Epic Quest?
by DarKazeura
Summary: Bahamut isn't happy with the way the game ended, so he calls in reinforcements, a group of high school students. This is their story. ---Finally Complete--- Sequel is finally up!
1. Gift of the fayth

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 10 or 10-2. I also do not own any of the other random cameos that show up in this fic. However, the main characters are based off of real people… but I don't own them... I just make fun of them.

Prologue.

**Gift of the Fayth!**

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The gift of the Fayth beckoned brightly in the distance, and the group of miss matched heroes couldn't help but look at the glowing mass in awe, knowing in their very souls, that this portal lead to one place and one place only… _Home_.

The group of six walked towards the growing light, the energy in the air making them all look mythical, even godlike. They stopped just before the portal opening, wanting to say goodbye to the friends they had made over the last year, knowing this would be there last chance.

The six turned to see those that were to see them off, tears showing in more than one pair of eyes; of course the males of the group would make up some excuse, saying their eyes were watering from the brightness of the portal… But they all knew it wasn't true. The otherworldly heroes had accomplished a lot in such a short time; they had made many memories…Not all of them good.

Each heroes story was different- as each hero was unique. Some found love, some found a purpose, there was a lot of pain and hardships they were forced to overcome, but one thing they all found…was each-other.

This is their story— _Our_ story.


	2. Earth dwellers

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 10 or 10-2. I also do not own any of the other random cameos that show up in this fic. However, the main characters are based off of real people… but I don't own them... I just make fun of them.**

**Chapter: One.**

**Earth dwellers**

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The petite dark haired girl stomped into her room mumbling under her breath, her face set into a scowl, "Stupid Yunalesca!" she growled. Gracelessly toppling over onto her bed she continued, "Stupid zombification! Gahh! It's not fair! I should write an angry letter, I mean, no video game bad guy should have an attack called _mega death_, it's just not fair!"

"You die again?" Rebecca asked walking into her younger sister room having heard her loudly complaining, "You really need to play a different game; I mean how many times have you played this one?" She sat on the bed waiting for a reply.

Tracy glared, "I've only played this one three times! Gim'me a break!"

"Exactly. _Three _times. We have so many games you haven't played –so many _better_ games, like Final Fantasy XII -Now that is a good game."

"Heeey!" Tracy sat up glaring at Rebecca, "I happen to really like Final Fantasy Ten and Ten-Two!" She sighed "It's just that damn Yunalesca… and the creepy haired Seymour… I mean –Why can't dead people just stay –oh I don't know know; Dead?"

Rebecca shook her head in confusion, "I still can't understand why you like that game, the characters are annoying –they have awful voice actors, and the evil dude has hideous looking hair."

"You're just jealous because I can read, write, and _speak_ Al Bhed!"

"Why would you _want_ to speak a made up language, can you say childish?" Rebecca sighed "And tell me exactly –when are you going to need to speak Al Bhed?"

Tracy moved across the room to her computer "Well, I can read Fanfics written in Al Bhed, I can write notes to Karina in Al Bhed and no one else can read them, and-"

"And you're hopelessly obsessed."

Tracy grinned, her green-grey eyes shining with amusement, "Maybe I am. I don't see the wrong."

"Sigh" Rebecca stood and walked towards the door, "I'm going back to read more Stargate Fics. Talk to you later."

An annoyed yell of "Moe! That's my chair! -_Mine!_" could be heard from the next room. Tracy just chuckled sinisterly and turned on her Winamp; there was nothing wrong with drowning out her sisters tortured pleas with Within Temptation -right?

Alone again, she couldn't help but get annoyed once more, It was her first time getting _game over_ on Final Fantasy Ten, even though she had played it numerous times.

_It's because of the incompetent characters I have for a party… Grrr. If I fought Yunalesca I would kick her undead butt all the way to the Farplane. That would be awesome…I wish me and my friends could go to Spira and beat up Seymour…_ Thoughts of how she would love to beat up Seymour with her own hands had her good mood returned.

Yawning, she looked towards her bed; it seemed to be calling out to her… It was still early, not even eight pm, but she knew resisting sleep was futile, sleep seemed to be the only constant thing in her life –it controlled her. The disease had gotten worse steadily since she turned fifteen… and the doctors still had no idea what was wrong with her.

The seventeen year old had almost completely given up hope that she would ever be cured. There was no place for her in reality as she was, thus why she submersed herself into fantasy.

She had just settled onto the bed when Rebecca popped her head in the room informing Tracy that she was going to be home alone for awhile.

"Where you going Becca?"

"Were going to the bar," was the reply.

"Whatever, I'm fine being alone. I'm not a little kid anymore." Tracy replied, annoyed.

Rebecca shrugged apologetically and made her way out to the car where our parents were waiting for her.

Tracy turned off her music, the house was silent. _Hmm, so I guess they all left. Gee, thanks for all going out and doing the one thing you know I can't do._ Tracy paused in her thinking; -it was getting bad when she was being sarcastic even in her thoughts. She sighed looking at her ceiling "I wish for once that I was needed… that I had a purpose."

"_**Is this what you really want?"**_

Tracy sat up looking around, subconsciously reaching under her pillow for her knife. "Who's there?"

"_**You wish to be needed?"**_

Tracy stood holding the silver knife in front of her, "I asked you a question!" She glanced around the room franticly but it was empty save for herself. "Okaaaay… Maybe I'm finally losing my mind."

"_**You wish for a purpose?"**_

The voice was coming from her little room! She ran to the curtain separating the two rooms and pushed past it. "Who_ are _you?_" _ Her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room, and she dropped the knife in shock. She _knew__him_! But this wasn't possible… "Are you _real_…?"

"_**You can obtain a purpose."**_

"Wha—I… I don't understand…_is this for real?_"

"_**Those who pilgrimage with you will need you."**_

Tracy's legs seemed to give out from underneath her; she fell to the ground, staring up at the child in amazement. "Pilg- pilgrimage?"

"_**Is this the path you choose?"**_

"You say I have a choice, but we both know that's untrue." Tracy stood on shaky legs looking at the _**Fayth of Bahamut**_Something that should not even exist. "Do I at least get to say goodbye?"

"_**Those you trust are to pilgrimage with you."**_

Tracy looked shocked, then outraged. "Most of the people I trust know nothing of that world! And- and they have lives here. –I don't. It would be cruel to take them away from there lives!"

"_**They have as much choice in this as you."**_

Tracy looked down as if in deep thought. The lyrics of her favorite song running through her mind.

_All that's left is to accept that it's over…My dreams ran like sand through the fist that I made. I try to keep warm, but I just grow colder. I feel like I'm slipping away… -Trying to hold to what I can't see. I forgot how to hope…this night's been so long… I cling to your promise there will be a dawn._

She shook her head as if to clear the song from her memory and looked to the Fayth; her eyes seemed otherworldly, but filled with determination. "I guess that means I'm going to Spira."

The Fayth nodded solemnly and in a flash of green light – Tracy disappeared. The Fayth looked to where she had been standing.

"_**I'm sorry."**_ and then he was gone.

* * *

Karina and Sarah were supposed to be doing their homework, but as they were at Sarah's house, they much preferred to make cookies; the homework wasn't due until Monday anyways.

"Sarah, when's your mom getting home?"

Sarah paused and tucked a dark lock of hair behind her ear, "Erm, not till Thursday, why?"

Karina just shook her head "Just curious, I'm not used to your house being so quiet." The blond grinned, "Guess that just means more cookies for us!"

Sarah shot her friend an approving look "I like the way you think…among other things" at this she very obviously stepped back and checked Karina out.

The blond giggled "Yea, I know I'm hot.

Sarah raised an eyebrow suggestively "Modest too."

Karina just glared playfully, "Sarcasm duly noted."

"Yea, yea, yea. C'mon, let's finish icing the cookies downstairs."

Karina agreed and the two girls ran down the stairs making their way to the living room.

"Hey Sarii, What time is it?"

"Ten to eight, why?"

"Yay! That means Tracy will be online!" Karina smiled, pushing Sarah off the computer chair and signing in to her msn. "Oh, darn. She's set to mobile."

"We can call her house if you want to talk to her so bad." Sarah grumbled from her place on the floor.

"Hmm, nah… She's probably sleeping and-"

"_**She waits. Are you prepared?"**_

The oldest of the two jumped up in shock, and being the one to recover her voice the quickest she spoke, "Who the hell are you?"

Karina stood, "Wait… Who waits?" her teal eyes looking suspiciously at the strangely dressed child.

"_**You two are trusted. The pilgrimage starts now."**_

Sarah, finally getting over the shock of having a strange, funny dressed kid standing in her home; glared. "Pilgrimage? What, are we in the eighteenth century or something?"

"_**Without your help, the spiral of death will consume her."**_

"Who? The spiral of death –whatever that is… It will consume who?"

Sarah just glanced at her friend, "Why are you listening to this kid… he's obviously loco." Grinning in spite of the situation Sarah chuckled. "I just said _loco!"_

Karina ignored the older girl. "Who will be consumed by death without our help?"

"_**You know who."**_ The Fayth looked her in the eye, showing her a glimpse of her friends fate should she not agree to help.

The blonds eyes widened, the image of her best friends death burning itself into her memory. "_No! She won't die! I- I forbid it!" _She glared at the Fayth. "We're in. _Everyone_ that is needed for her survival is in."

Sarah looked at the blond in shock. "Would someone please tell me what the _hell_ is going on?"

Karina looked at Sarah, her eyes steeled with determination. "We-" she gestured at the two of them, "–Are going on a pilgrimage." With this said she looked towards the Boy.

The child Fayth nodded at the two girls, and as if a camera flash had gone off a bright light filled the room. No one would even know of the girls' absence till Monday.


	3. Far from home

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 10 or 10-2. I also do not own any of the other random cameos that show up in this fic. However, the main characters are based off of real people… but I don't own them... I just make fun of them.**

**Chapter: Two.**

**Far from home**

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Tracy woke up with a start, "That was a _weird_ dream-" Her green eyes widened -_this was not her bedroom._ The small girl stood and glanced around seeing that she seemed to be in an abandoned temple. "Oh."

A feint song could be heard coming from a sealed door to her right. Any final fantasy ten fans would recognize the tune as the _'Hymn of Fayth'__** "**_**Crap." **Tracy knew _exactly_ where she was.

The now annoyed teen walked towards the exit of the building, she had to squint due to the brightness of the day—"Wait? Daytime?" she jumped down the ramp, skipping it entirely.

"Helloooo?"

Not at all surprisingly, no one answered. Tracy walked towards the bridge deep in thought.

_Someone in the Calm Lands could probably tell me the latest news…at least then I would know __when__ I am. Stupid inconsiderate Fayth. Could have at least given' me a little information… _

Tracy stopped in the center of the bridge. Her green eyes widened in shock—her having made the mistake of looking down and realizing that the bottom was a _very long_ way down. She ran back the way she came. "I_ hate _heights!"

Tracy sighed in frustration. _Great. Just great._ She walked back towards the temple, making a mental list of what she knew as she went. _I'm in __Spira__. I'm alone. I don't know when I am—for all I know it could be years before the Eternal calm…or years after. And to top it off, I'm at the abandoned __Remiem__ Temple. Wait! Remiem is the Temple Belgemine stays at!_

She jumped up the ramp excitedly and pushed open the doors, "Belgemine?" She glanced around frantically "Belgemine? Are you here?" The unsent was no where to be found.

The seventeen year old growled, "Damn it!" she kicked at the floor in frustration. She sighed, "Fine. I give up." As if to prove her point, Tracy walked to the center of the room and flopped down onto her back. Almost as if she expected the Fayth was listening she continued to rant. "Yea. You see this? This is me not going on a quest. So hah! In your face!"

The temple seemed to glow a sickly green color, Tracy sat up; "This _can't_ be good." The glow expanded until it filled the entire room causing the annoyed girl to cover her eyes with her arm.

With the light came five figures, all landing on the floor unceremoniously in a tangled pile. Tracy blinked rapidly as if not believing her eyes.

The oldest of the group grumbled from her place at the bottom of the pile, "Can you all get off of me?"

"Yea, I second that." replied Karina, attempting to push the two guys off her so she could get off Sarah. "God Jarrod —your fat!" Jarrod rolled off her grumbling about white guys who think their black.

The second guy stood up and backed away giving Jarrod a weird look, "Who are you people?" his hazel-blue eyes wide with confusion.

A startled shriek made all the earthlings look towards a tall, dark haired girl who had seemingly just woke up. "Where am I?"

"That's what I want to know." Sarah glanced towards the taller girl, "Emily –-Stop looking at us as if were going to kill you!" she looked around, "Anyways, it's obvious that none of us have any idea where we are."

At this Tracy decided to make her presence known. "Err, hey guys… Actually… I kind of know where we are."

The five looked at her in shock, Karina going so far as to run and attack her in a hug, "You're not dead!"

Tracy hugged her best friend back with equal force, but soon realized that Karina wasn't planning on letting go, she managed to gasp out the words "Need –Air!"

Karina let her go and jumped back managing to look sheepish. She glanced around at the mismatched group, "So, I guess the five of us are your trusted?"

Tracy looked the group over, "I guess so -Wait…" She glanced at the lankier of the two guys, "You look familiar. A.S.L?"

Jarrod and the Emily glanced at each other mouthing the letters "_A S L?" _in confusion.

Sarah looked at Tracy in annoyance, "I think I speak for all of us when I say –Huh?"

Fortunately the guy was fluent in computer lingo, "17, male –obviously, and California, you?"

Tracy squealed, "Natthan?"

Karina grinned, "Well Tracy, never thought we'd meet Natthan here of all places." She smiled at Nate and looked at Tracy once more, "Where exactly is _here_?"

"I knew I recognized you two!" Nate grinned at the two girls; "This is _waaaay_ better than Web-Cam!" he stopped talking at Karina's glare.

Tracy looked over her misfit group of friends, the oldest of them, Sarah; was looking around the temple in awe -the architecture _was_ pretty amazing… Tracy grinned; knowing Sarah, she didn't care about the building at all… she was probably just paying attention to the pretty colors.

The second oldest; Emily, was sitting on the floor with a confused expression on her face –which Tracy admitted was reasonable, they did just randomly get teleported to an unknown place… and Teleporting wasn't even supposed to exist.

Karina wasn't paying attention to anything; she had a thoughtful look on her face. Tracy suspected that the girl was trying to sort out her thoughts trying to make sense of the situation. Even though Karina was the youngest of the girls, her being younger than Tracy by ten days -she was the most mature out of the entire group.

Tracy continued her observations, Jarrod and Natthan were arguing about the architecture of the building. - The two guys were the youngest in the group, Jarrod was five months older than Nate, but he was still younger than all the girls.

"Well…"

Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at Tracy, waiting for her to continue.

"Welcome to Remiem Temple…" Tracy smiled sheepishly

"Remiem Temple?" Sarah looked around seeing the blank faces of her friends, _at least I'm not the only one who has no idea whatsoever about any of this._

Tracy bit her lip due to nervousness. "Yea… Erm…" She looked at Jarrod, "Remiem is a forgotten temple, it is also where—" she paused as if not sure how to continue.

"Where, what?" Jarrod asked looking at her suspiciously.

"…Were any of you…err –visited, before you appeared here?"

Natthan, Emily and Jarrod shook their heads no, wondering why she changed the subject so suddenly.

Karina looked nervous, "Heh Heh Heh…"

"A funky dark skinned kid wearing a funny looking purple dress-" Sarah looked towards Karina, "-showed up in my living room." Again Sarah glanced in the blonds direction, "_Karina_ talked to him, said something about not letting someone die, and then told the little kid... and I quote, **'We're in. **_**Everyone**_** that is needed for her survival is in.'** and then-" Sarah paused and gestured dramatically to the room they stood in, "Poof. I'm lying on a cold floor buried in people." Sarah glared in Karina's direction.

"If we didn't come—" Karina started.

"We would be at home right now!" Exclaimed Sarah.

Karina glared, "If we didn't come -Tracy was going to die!"

Everyone looked towards Karina in shock, "How do you know that?"

Karina tried to blink back her tears "I— that kid… He- he showed me…" She looked towards Tracy, "I saw your death! He said if we didn't come you would die! An- and then he _showed_ me."

Tracy embraced her best friend, "It's okay Karina," she ran her hand through the distressed girls hair; knowing it helped calm her down. "I'm not dead –I won't leave you. Never ever."

The other four talked in hushed whispers, not wanting to intrude on Karina and Tracy.

Finally calmed down, Karina walked to the other four; "I think it's time Tracy told us where we are."

Tracy smiled at the group in a way she hoped was reassuring, "Remiem temple…is the temple in which a summoner can obtain the Aeon known as _'The Magus Sisters'._

Jarrod laughed, "Summoner? Aeon? -Are you trying to tell us we are in _SPIRA? _ He stopped laughing at seeing her serious face, "You're telling the truth." It was a statement, not a question.

The rest of the group just shrugged in confusion, Nate finally giving in to his curiosity, "Where is Spira?"

Tracy was saved from answering as the one who brought them all here decided to make his presence known. "**You made it. I'm glad."**

Tracy smiled, trying to hide her annoyance. "Hello Bahamut."

Jarrod's reaction was much less polite, "Oh Fuck"

"That's the kid that brought us here!"

"Obviously. Have you ever seen another kid with that outfit?" Karina replied to Sarah's statement.

"**Are you ready to begin?"**

"Begin what?" Emily asked looking the kid over skeptically.

"**I must prepare you all for your journey."**

Tracy gave the Fayth a long look, "Will you answer out questions after you prepare us?"

"**A question each."**

Tracy looked at her five friends, "Are we going to do this?"

The all nodded, although somewhat reluctant.

"**Who first?"**

Seeing as her friends were still wary Tracy raised her hand slightly. "It's because of me that their all here… I'll go first." The Fayth nodded and the two disappeared.

* * *

When her vision cleared, Karina found herself standing on a cliff overlooking a long terrain covered in cracks. _Well that was different._ She grinned taking in her new look. Worried about Tracy's disappearance, she had volunteered to go with the weird looking boy when he returned; but her friend was in no danger… she was being prepared for the journey ahead -well a better word for it would be equipped. The annoying kid was equipping them with things they could use to fight.

The blond was in love with her sphere grid… she wanted to learn everything on it. Her weapons suited her perfectly, A shiny gun with infinite bullets, and large black combat boots that had a space on the outside near her toes that she could equip small shiny -well she didn't actually know _what_ they were…but she knew they added stuff to her attacks, she had a shiny green one that came with the boots, supposedly if she equipped it, when she kicked her enemies, it would poison them.

Smiling, Karina looked at her new outfit; she now had on a white low cut top that ended with a diagonal cut, making one side of the shirt end at her hip, and the other end at her knee. She had tight black capri's with a gun holder on the right side, her black combat boots, and on her left arm, was a yellow arm warmer, and on the right was a red arm warmer. Supposedly the little pouch she was holding could be strapped on to her leg, and it held ninety nine of each item.

When the blond finished her examinations of her outfit, she walked over and examined Tracy's new look. Her friend was currently sitting with her legs hanging off the cliff. "So what did you go with for weapons?"

Tracy grinned and stood up showing Karina her new assemble. She had a bright yellow holster on her upper left arm that held small throwing knives, a small pouch tied to her leg for items, and her main weapons were two twin daggers that looked very similar to the ones Rikku would get in X-2, except the yellow and red were reversed. Her new shirt was a low cut, green top with the sides held together by silver clasps; it only had one white sleeve on the right arm. She also wore a black wrap around knee length skirt with small white short shorts under it. To finish the outfit she wore bright yellow, knee high combat boots.

Before they could continue their examinations, they heard a yelp and realized that Emily had arrived. Karina blinked taking in her friends' new outfit, and then she blinked again -and it still hadn't changed, then she started laughing.

Emily looked annoyed, "What's so funny? I'm a Black mage –and I like my outfit!"

Tracy just grinned; Emily's outfit was an exact replica of Rikku's black mage dressphere… except her staff –that was _totally_ Emily.

Karina continued laughing, "Your weapon-" she giggled gesturing at Emily's staff. "Your weapon is a _Tikki Torch_!"

Emily swung it around, "I know! Isn't it great?"

Jarrod walked into the clearing muttering "Just because I made fun of his attire….and called him a pimp, and-"

"Erm, Jarrod… _please_ tell me you didn't mock Bahamut…" Tracy winced.

"Hey there," Jarrod said as he walked up to the group. "I like your new outfits -is that a Tikki torch?" Jarrod burst out laughing.

Emily walked over to him with a sweet smile on her face, and then hit him on the head with the Tikki. "Don't mock the power of The Tikki!"

Tracy looked Jarrod over as he rubbed his head in pain. "Cool outfit Jarrod, It suits you. Although Jecht may get annoyed -that's if he's even in this time…" Jarrod's outfit was the exact same design as Jecht's from Zanarkand, except his arms were bare, and the tie around his head and the side of his pants that went down to his feet were yellow instead of red. His chest was bare except for a shiny gold chain with a large chocobo charm on it. "Did you have to walk here?"

"Yea." Jarrod smiled, "but the look on that kid's face-"

"-I don't want to know!"

Jarrod looked at Tracy, "Spoilsport."

Tracy grinned, "You can't call me a spoilsport—"

Jarrod started to back up fearfully knowing what came next "-If your _DEAD_!" at this Tracy tackled Jarrod to the ground laughing insanely.

Sarah appeared in the clearing as this was happening, she just stood there watching, _that has got to hurt! Ehh, maybe I should do something…_ Sarah shook her head seeing Jarrod bite Tracy's arm, _Nah; it's too amusing to watch!_

Tracy noticed Sarah and got off Jarrod smiling sheepishly, "Hia Sarii -" her green eyes widened seeing Sarah's outfit…or lack of. Sarah was now wearing blue fingerless gloves, a black bikini top, and a _very_ short brown wrap around skirt over her bikini bottom, to finish the assemble she wore blue ankle high boots. "You do know that there's snow at random places all throughout Spira right?"

Sarah blinked, "Damn it!"

"It's okay though," she quickly reassured her, "I knew someone would do something like this, so when I was with the Fayth I asked for six cloaks." Tracy grinned. "What would you do without me?"

"You're my hero." Sarah grinned, "But look! I have a sword!" She pulled a katana out of the scabbard strapped to her back and swung it around.

Tracy jumped back with a yelp, "Your going to kill someone with that thing!"

Jarrod grinned at Sarah, "Look! I have one too!" he pulled out his own katana; "On guard!" the two swung their swords at each other making them spark. "Fuck yeah!"

Karina and Tracy walked to stand by Emily, "I'm worried…" Emily smiled nervously, "Who would be stupid enough to give _them_ sharp objects?"

Tracy poked her, "Uhm… The same person who gave me these?" She pulled out her twin daggers and showed them to Emily.

Emily looked towards Karina, "Okay, I take back the 'stupid' comment…That kid's not stupid –He's freaking insane!" Although Karina didn't say anything, Emily knew that she silently agreed.

Tracy glared, "I resent that!"

The calm lands were starting to get dark, and the group could hear the sound of fiends in the distance. Karina was the only person to actually think about what they were going to do, so she took it upon herself to get everyone's attention. "Will you all just _Shut Up_?"

Everyone looked towards her, Sarah and Jarrod grinned awkwardly putting their blades away. "Okay, first off, where is Nate? He hasn't come back from his time with that kid."

Tracy sighed, "Your right. He's probably arguing with poor Bahamut…"

"—I'm right here," Natthan said as he walked into the clearing, "Since I was the last one, the kid told me what we had to do." Nate was dressed like what you would think someone from the Roman Empire would have dressed like, he had silver armor covering his torso and legs, and something that looked slightly like leather covering his arms, but the coolest part of his outfit was the long red cape. He too like Sarah and Jarrod had a sword, although his was of a different style.

"So what's the what?" Tracy looked around, "I thought Bahamut was going to talk to us?"

"That's the thing, as I was getting equipped he suddenly started to fade out of sight, he told me the basics of what we had to do and then said that he had to go as he was needed back at this bevel place-"

"Bevelle." Tracy corrected absent mindedly.

"Right. So he said if we want to talk to him, we have to go to Bevelle. He also said that to visit we need a summoner."

"I've always wanted to be a summoner…" Tracy smiled wistfully, "I love Shiva…"

"Okay so that parts settled. Now what?"

Nate looked towards Karina, "he said we needed to create a new identity for ourselves." He shrugged in confusion, "I don't know why though."

"I know why. It's so if for some reason we show up on Earth's version of Spira… we won't recognize ourselves." Tracy glanced around, "I'm obsessed with Final fantasy ten –I would notice if there was a character named after me or one of my friends."

Karina looked at Tracy in confusion, "I'm not even going to ask…I'm already confused far too much for my liking."

Tracy looked incredibly relieved, "Good, I wasn't sure how to explain anyways… It boggles my brain."

"So guys, we need names."

"Yea, and we need to know what our specialties are."

"Okay let's do this."

The group of six sat in a circle, Tracy went around checking the groups sphere grids and showing them how to use them and see what they specialized in.

"Okay, so I'm a Thief with pretty high strength stats." Tracy looked towards Emily.

Emily grinned, "I'm a Black Mage…and I have a lot of _Mp _stats. What does _Mp_ stand for?"

"Magic points; It means you're able to cast more magic without wearing yourself out." Tracy looked towards Karina, "Your turn."

Karina glanced at her sphere grid, it says I have high _Mp_ and _Hp _defense, and I'm a—Hmm….."

"What is it?"

Karina looked towards Tracy, "I'm good with black and white magic… What does that make me?"

"Gray mage."

"Cool, so does that mean I can fight well and do magic? I mean it says I can do magic, but my weapons are both physical not magical… I'm confused."

"I guess we'll find out when we get attacked by fiends." Tracy looked towards Nate, "Your turn now."

"I have high _Hp_ but low_ Mp; _and I specialize in fighting with lots of stealth… I'm going to take a guess and say that I'm classified as an Assassin."

"Me too." Sarah looked at Nate's Grid, "Our stats are the same."

"Jarrod, what about you?"

Jarrod looked over his sphere grid, "I'm a fighter, but it looks as if I have the ability to give my enemies stasis alignments –"

"Wakka from Final Fantasy ten- err, well, Wakka from here, can do that too." Tracy grinned, "But he's classified as a Blitz ball player… So you can just be warrior dude."

"Okay so now we need names."

The group of six sat thinking for about an hour, normally it wouldn't take so long to pick a new name, but the group had a feeling that whatever their new name became… is what it would stay…even should they return to Earth.

"I'm Tara Adara." Karina said breaking the silence.

"Nice, I'll be…" Nate paused to think, "Commander Akail."

Tracy spoke next, "I'll be… Nysaria Desert-Croft."

"Hmm, I need a cool name –" Emily giggled, "—My new name is Ophelia Batalax!" Emily grinned, "But you can all call me Batalax."

"Skye." Sarah spoke. "Yea, my name is Skye Kane."

"Jarrod, what's your name going to be?"

Jarrod looked towards Tracy; now Nysa. "Xander Payne."

"Annnnnnnd done." Skye said with relief.

"Come on guys, there's an Inn above Macalania forest, if we're lucky we can get there before midnight." This said; Nysa started her way towards Macalania forest with the group following behind. The entered this area as high school students and they were leaving as…well… high school students with weapons.

* * *

Tara glanced up from the crystallized path, "Nysa, what's over there?"

"Bevelle."

"But isn't that where we are supposed to go?" Tara stopped walking in confusion.

"Yea, that kid told us to meet him in Bevelle."

Nysa sighed, "Yea, I know that's where we were told to go Akail, but Bevelle is the largest city in Spira… And I have no idea where we would find a hotel."

"Let's just go guys; Nysa knows this place better than all of us put together." Skye argued, she just wanted to go someplace warm.

"Skye, Xander, are you guys cold?" Nysa asked considering the two were wearing very little clothing, seeing their nods she pulled two black cloaks out of the small pouch attached to her belt and handed it to the two of them. "I love having a small pouch that can hold an uber amount of stuff!" She paused, "Here, let's all wear our cloaks, they're black so maybe the fiends won't notice us." She handed out the rest of the cloaks.

After about ten minutes of the group walking up the path in silence, Batalax stumbled on an icy root, "It's getting really dark guys…"

"Light your weapon." Xander said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Batalax looked at him expectantly, "With what?"

"You're a Black Mage!"

"But I don't know how! Do I just point at it like this—" She pointed at the unlit torch "- and then say…what? **Fire**?" The torch lit brightly, and Batalax dropped it in shock.

Nysa hurried over and picked it up, "Are you trying to start a fire or something?" She handed the Tikki torch weapon back to her friend giving the taller girl a reproachful stare, ignoring the gleeful mumbling of _"I did it…I cast a spell! This is SOO cool!"_


	4. The Icy Temple

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 10 or 10-2. I also do not own any of the other random cameos that show up in this fic. However, the main characters are based off of real people… but I don't own them... I just make fun of them.**

**Chapter: Three**

**The Icy Temple**

**-

* * *

**

Akail smiled, his _friends_ , were attempting to accomplish the trademark 'victory dance' of the final fantasy games. He personally thought they were being ridiculous; they were spending more time on their victory dance than they had spent defeating the fiend. He shrugged and spoke, "As amusing as this is, can we continue our way to the Inn? None of us have any items, so if one of us gets hurt…" he let the sentence hang.

"Aww, Akail…." Batalax smiled knowingly, "You're just upset that I'm better at killing fiends than you are."

Akail snorted, "You can cast one spell. You're just lucky that the fiends here are all ice elementals." He smirked smugly seeing her face fall.

"Guys…Stop it!" Nysa growled. "You're all tired and confused -I am to…" she ran her hand through her hair in frustration, "-but that doesn't mean we can take out our anger on each other… As much as it may pain you all to believe… We're all in this together."

Tara walked up to Nysa and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "Come on guys, let's just go," she paused looking each of the weary teens in the eye, "We can figure this all out in the morning."

Akail looked at Batalax and smiled apologetically. "Truce?" he put his hand out for her to take.

Batalax smiled weakly and shook his hand, she looked at him and whispered sullenly, "I didn't mean to upset you…I tend to get carried away sometimes…"

"As touching as this all is, can we get moving? I'm hungry." Xander complained.

"Must he always speak with his stomach?" Nysa giggled.

Skye gave her a strange look, "Would you prefer he speak with something lower?"

"Skye!" Nysa gave her a horrified look, "Get your head out of the gutter!"

Skye grinned and spoke gleefully, "But I quite like my head in the gutter… You should join me!"

"Fiends." Akail spoke uninterestingly.

Xander looked hopeful, "Can we eat them?"

Three loud bangs had the group ducking and covering their ears, Xander being so bold as to shout out "Don't shoot!"

Tara giggled and re-sheathed her gun, "Guys…I was just getting rid of the fiend problem…Sheesh"

The group gave each other sheepish looks and picked themselves up off the icy ground. Nysa spoke what was on most of their minds, "Heh, well, try not to get _too_ trigger happy Tara -you're supposed to be the sane one…"

After another fifteen minutes of walking Xander spoke up, "Guys, where's Batalax?"

The group looked around, and not seeing the crazy girl or her Tikki torch, decided to do the next best thing -yell loudly.

"Batalax?" Nysa ran ahead of the group, "Where are you?"

"B!" Skye growled, "if you don't get over here right now I'll never go monster hunting with you again!"

A small 'eeep' was heard from ahead of the group, and then the sound of Nysa's laughing.

Nysa walked back to the group grinning, Batalax following behind her with a sullen look on her face. The thief gave her a mock reproachful look, and spoke, "She was chasing butterflies." Nysa burst into giggles once again, Tara and Skye joining her. The two guys just shrugged and continued up the icy path.

About an hour later Nysa grumbled something along the lines of "Stupid Macalania forest wasn't this big in the game! Grrr…"

The Macalania forest was a lot more detailed and complicated than it was in the game, there also wasn't just one set path for you to follow –it was like a real forest with paths everywhere. Another thing the group noticed was that not all things that moved were fiends; there were actual animals in the forest, animals like deer and polar bears.

Nysa and Tara were walking ahead of the group; they had always had the tendency to distance themselves from everyone but each other.

Tara looked the thief over and asked the question that had been on her mind since they showed up in Spira, "Nysa, aren't you tired?" Seeing the glare the dark girl gave her she quickly amended what she had meant, "I mean of course you're tired -we all are. But… you seem to be more… Erm," Tara paused, knowing this was a touchy subject with her friend. "-What I mean, is that you seem tired… _just like us. _Not like… how you normally are."

Nysa smiled reassuringly, "It's all right for you to say that I was sick-"

"-Wait. _Was_ sick? As in… not anymore?" Tara gave the thief a confused look.

"Tara, how are your eyes?"

The blond gave her friend a weird look wondering about the sudden subject change, "My eyes are fine, but what does that have to-"

"Everything." Nysa smiled. "Your eyes are fine… but had you not noticed that you're no longer wearing your glasses?"

Tara smiled, "So that means that here in Spira… we are all healthy?"

"I think so, I mean…the things we have wrong with us…don't exist here…so how could we have them?"

"Wow, Ten points to Spira-" Tara started.

"Ooof!" Nysa cried falling.

"Are you okay Nys?" the thief had just tripped over an icy root.

"I'm alright -ouch," the thief winced. "Okay," she said getting up, "I'm _mostly_ alright." Nysa laughed embarrassed.

Tara shouted, "Batalax!"

Batalax left her place beside Skye and skipped towards Tara, "Yes'm?"

"Can you cast a fire spell on this branch?" Tara asked picking up a branch.

"Sure," the dark haired mage pointed her Tikki at the branch, _"__**Fire!**__"_

Tara smiled and handed the makeshift torch to Nysa. "You can go back to Skye now B," Tara grinned; "we just needed your pyro-ness to give us some light."

Batalax walked back to Skye, "I feel so used…"

Skye grinned at her, "But you got to cast a spell, so all is well right?" the assassin paused, "Hey! That rhymed!"

Akail was bored. When Akail was bored, he schemed. "Are we there yet?" he asked.

"No."

Seeing the evil look in Akail's eye, Xander joined in. "What about now? Are we there yet now?"

Nysa glared at the two, "No. we are not there yet!"

The two guys were silent for about fifteen minutes, Xander nudged Batalax and winked.

Batalax skipped ahead so she was walking beside Nysa. "Hey Nys, Are we there yet?" The mage grinned.

"No!"

"Are we there yet?" Akail pestered

"No we are not."

"What about now?" He asked again

"I have to use the bathroom…" Skye grinned at the angered thief.

Tara sighed and addressed the female assassin, "I'm sure were almost ther—" she started.

"Are we there yet?" Batalax cut in waving her Tikki around.

Nysa growled at her. "Does it _look_ like we are there yet?"

Tara smiled sheepishly not wanting to anger the thief more, "Uhm, actually yea. It does look like were there…" The blond pointed to the clearing at the top of the hill, the Inn lit up in all its welcoming glory.

"Finally the nightmare ends!" Nysa practically ran to the Inn.

The travel agency inn was a brightly colored building with two floors. Xander noticed a small glowing sphere in the corner of the lobby, "You guys go on ahead. I want to check that glowing thing out," He pointed to the sphere and made his way over to it. Skye shrugged and made her way to the front desk.

"Hey, can-"

The man interrupted her, "Famlusa du Rins. Ruf syo E ramb oui?"

Skye gave him a befuddled look, "Huh?"

Nysa and Tara looked at each other knowingly, Tara whispered, "You do it, I'm better at reading it then speaking it."

Nysa smiled slightly and bounced up to the desk, addressing the strangely dressed man she spoke, "Ruf syho nuusc yna yjyemypma?"

"Drnaa."

Nysa smiled, "Tu yho uv dra nuusc ryja dfu patc?"

The man nodded, "Uha tuac."

Nysa frowned slightly, "Ruf secr vun dfu nuusc?"

The man promptly replied, "Veja rihtnat Gil."

Nysa smiled brightly, "Fa'mm dyga dfu!"

The dark haired thief turned and faced the group. "I got us two rooms. We all have to share a bed though… I hope you all don't mind."

Skye and Batalax shared a look. Batalax opting to be the spokesperson of the two, "How did you know what he was saying?"

Akail nodded in confusion.

Tara sighed impatiently, "It's Al Bhed. You know, the language you all made fun of me and Nysa for learning?"

Batalax shook her head in annoyance, "I knew I should have paid more attention to video games!"

Skye frowned tiredly, "Can we all go to bed now?"

Nysa handed Skye the two keys. "Sure, you guys go on ahead; I'm going to talk to the Inn keeper a bit more.

Skye smiled and led the way to the back of the inn where the rooms were.

Nysa walked toward the desk, but stopped seeing Xander poking the blue sphere thingy, "Oh gods! Is that what I think it is?" she asked.

"It's a save sphere!"

"Wow!" Nysa smiled and walked towards him.

"Do you want me to save it?"

"Sure Xand,"

So he did. "Do you find it kind of strange how easily we all accepted this?" Xander asked. "I mean, were in a freaking _video game!_ This can't be normal."

Nysa frowned. "I guess I never really thought about it…" She poked at the save sphere, "Maybe were all in shock… or crazy –or dreaming -"

"The same dream?" Xander frowned. "I don't think that's actually possible…"

Nysa raised an eyebrow at him, "And yet here we are… In Spira. A place that should not even exist… with magic and actual monsters." The thief paused. "I mean, were in a place where blue is a natural hair color… that _can't_ be normal."

Xander laughed, "At least were not in Midgar, Sephirothis **not** someone I would like to have to fight."

Nysa agreed. "Yea, it's bad enough we have to be in the same world as Seymour, because that guy has horrible taste."

"Yea," Xander smiled, "But at least he doesn't wear bling."

Nysa couldn't help but laugh, Xander was like the comic relief in their mismatched group.

"Well," Xander paused yawning, "I'm going to make sure Akail doesn't hog the bed." He gave the thief a pointed look, "Next time, let's try to all get separate beds… I need my space." He paused and ran a hand through his hair, "Unless of course I get to share with one of you girls, then I'm fine with sharing." He grinned slyly.

"Xander…" Nysa sighed exasperatedly, "Go to bed." She pushed him lightly in the direction of the rooms, "I'm going to talk to the inn keeper a bit more."

Xander shrugged and walked towards the back of the inn.

Nysa walked up to the counter, "Okay mister, I think it's time we had a little chat."

"Famlusa du Rins, Ruf syo e ramb oui?"

Nysa slammed her hands on the counter, "Why are you pretending you can't speak eng- Spiran?"

The man gave her a hard look.

Nysa returned it, "I'm a fan of yours. I know damn well that you can speak English… Mr. Rin."

The man smiled slightly, "I see… I do not believe we have had the pleasure of meeting before."

Nysa leaned over the counter slightly with a smile on her face, "Well…" she paused looking him in the eye, "That isn't entirely true."

* * *

Skye yawned, "I'm dead beat guys; wake me up if anything awe-inspiring happens." She looked at Batalax who was sound asleep on the bed beside her, "or not."

Tara smiled tiredly, "Lets just get some sleep Skye, its late…and it's been a _weird_ day…"

Skye whispered "Understatement," and rolled over trying to get comfortable. "G'night Tara…"

"Goodnight…"

Extraordinarily, Nysaria was the first to wake up the next morning, so with an evil glint in her eyes she looked towards the still sleeping Tara, and did what any best friend would do; she lay on top of her, "Tar -aaaaahhh"

Tara knocked Nysa off the bed and grumbled, "I was having a good dream!"

From her place on the floor Nysa pouted up at Tara. "You're so mean Tara…" giving the blond her best 'pity me' look she frowned, "I just wanted to torment you a little, but no; You have to ruin it all for me… you should be ashamed of yourself…" Nysa paused, "Tara! Stop laughing at me!"

Tara just smiled, "Why are our morning conversations always so illogical?"

Nysa stood up and playfully pushed the now sitting Tara, "You may be illogical, but I'm perfectly logical… I always make sense!" This had Tara laughing once again.

"Hey!" Skye sat up glaring, "Some of us are trying to sleep!" Tara and Nysa looked at each other and burst out laughing, their friend was like the definition of _not a morning person_. Or at least that's what the look she was giving them was saying.

Changing the subject completely Nysa dove over the bed and started digging through her pouch; Grinning triumphantly she pulled out a piece of random merchandise, "Lookie!" she squealed loudly pointing to the probably over priced object, "I got Rins autograph!" The other three girls gave her blank looks, although Batalax's look was more of a glare, she too hated being woken up early.

"Heh heh heh…" Nysa chuckled nervously… "Can you please…" she paused and ducked behind the bed so only her head was showing, "Please put the Tikki down…"

"I was thinking…" Skye started.

Tara, Batalax and Nysa gasped.

"You? Thinking?"

"That's funny!"

"Don't hurt yourself Skye!"

Skye glared at the three girls. "How many eons are there?"

Nysa gave her a befuddled look, "Eons?"

"Yea those summon things-"

"Aeons." Nysa corrected. "There are…." She paused to think. "Hmm…"

"There's Bahamut…" Tara said.

Nysa nodded absent mindedly, "Yea… and then there's Valefor, Ifrit, Ixion, Shiva, Yojimbo, Anima, and the Magus Sisters. There's also Penance… but I don't know where you would find it." She paused thoughtfully, so that means there are nine Aeons… but only Eight we can get." Giving Skye a confused look she asked, "Why?"

"Well…" Skye paused to build suspense. "I think all six of us should become summoners!"

Nysa looked to the other two in the room to see there opinions, "I think it's a great idea!"

"Me too!" Exclaimed Tara

"Me and Mr. Tikki think so too!"

Nysa gave her an incredulous look, "Mr. Tikki?"

"So who should get what summon?" Tara asked changing the subject away from Batalax's naming skills – or lack of.

"Well, I still call dibs on Shiva." Nysa stated.

"Hmmm… any of them got the power of fire?"

"Ifrit does." Said Nysa.

Skye grinned, "I'll take Ifrit then."

"Batalax, which one do you want?"

"Ixion." She smiled, "It has a cool name… like me!"

"Tara?"

"Hmmm… I'll go with Anima." Tara exclaimed.

"I always knew you were into bondage Tara…" Nysa replied thinking about the Aeon Anima and all the chains and blindfolds it has.

Tara gasped mockingly, "Nysa! You're not supposed to give away my secrets like that!" the blond laughed, her teal eyes shining with mischief.

Skye and Batalax laughed, "It's not like it was a secret anyways Tara!"

The door to their room opened and Xander stuck his head in, "Did somebody say bondage?"

* * *

The group was now sitting in the lobby of Rins Travel Agency. Batalax was pacing and swinging her Tikki around impatiently.

"So yea, Akail will get Valefor, Xander will get Yojimbo, I'll get Shiva, Tara will get Anima, Skye will get Ifrit, and-"

"And I'll get Ixen!" Exclaimed Batalax cutting Nysa off in mid speech.

"Ixion." Nysa corrected exasperatedly.

Akail got a thoughtful look on his face, "So what about Bahamut and the Magus Sisters?"

"We'll all go for them." Xander spoke up with authority.

"So it's settled. We have a game plan." Tara said.

"Finally," Skye spoke, glancing around the room in boredom.

"Let's move out!" Akail spoke as if in the military.

* * *

"So this is Macalania Temple?" asked Tara with a slightly awed look on her face. "Pretty…" she whispered wistfully.

"It is, isn't it."

Nysa jumped, startled. She would recognize that voice anywhere! "Maester Seymour!"

The group gave each other weird looks, _why was Nysa being nice to him? She had told them he was evil!_

Nysa frowned at her friends, and did the prayer towards him, "May Yevon be with you."

Seymour looked slightly startled, but returned the prayer anyway. "May I enquire to as who you all are?"

Nysa spoke before any of the group had a chance to, "We are a lowly summoner's party, Milord Seymour."

Batalax visibly started, "We are not lowl- emph- Nysa—le- me -ooo!"

"I'm sorry milord, Ophelia got too close to Sin…" Nysa whispered remorsefully still holding her hand over Batalax's mouth. She shot the other four in the group warning looks.

Xander spoke up from the back of the group, shooting the other members a look that said to go along with whatever he was about to say, "Yes… We all got too close to Sin… it is truly the blessing of Yevon that we survived at all." He paused giving Batalax a sad look, "Ophelia here saved my life, but by doing so she was much more affected by the toxin than myself."

"It was quite awful milord…" Akail added in a pained whisper.

Tara gave the three a shocked look; she had forgotten they were all in acting at one point or another in their lives.

"Yea, it was that attack that had Nysaria deciding to go down the summoners' path." Skye added.

Seymour smiled, "Which one of you is Nysaria?"

Nysa internally winced; Seymour smiling usually always meant badness. Attempting to look meek Nysa looked up at him, "I am Nysaria, milord."

"Yes well, you may wish to go to the cloister of trials immediately; I am expecting another summoner's party within the next day."

Tara smiled up at him; it was time to fish for information. "Which summoner are you expecting if you don't mind my asking…?"

"The Lady Yuna, my soon to be wife."

Nysa inwardly smiled. _Bingo, they had a timeline now._ "The Great Lady Yuna? Daughter of High Summoner Braska? What an honor!" Nysa smiled in what she hoped was a friendly way, "I will hurry then. I do not wish to bother Lady Yuna." She paused, "Can you please point us in the direction of the trials?"

He pointed to the stairs at the back of the temple. "Make haste Lady Nysaria."

She nodded to him politely and walked to the stairs, her 'guardians' following close behind. As they were entering the cloister of trials, Batalax looked back and yelled, "I am not a sinner!"

* * *

As the doors closed behind them, Tara turned on Nysa. "What the _hell_ was that all about? I thought you said he was evil… I clearly remember you always complaining about him not staying dead when you killed him!"

Before Nysa had a chance to reply, Xander spoke up. "We had to get into Yevons good graces. If we attacked the Maester now, we would be traitors of Yevon…and everyone would be out to kill us!"

"Not to mention it would change the whole timeline…" Nysa added. "And Batalax, next time… let _us_ do the talking… okay?"

Batalax nodded sheepishly.

Akail looked towards Nysa, "You ready?"

"As I'll ever be…" Nysa murmured, her green eyes betraying her nervousness.

Tara gave her a encouraging look, "Good luck Nys…"

Nysa smiled back at her and entered the Chamber of the Fayth.

* * *

"**Hello Tracy."**

Nysa gave the Fayth of Shiva a shocked look. "How do you know my name?"

"**I know everything. I have been expecting you."**

Nysa frowned slightly, "That's rather creepy, you know? Oh, yea," Nysa took a step back and preformed the prayer or Yevon. "I wish to become a summoner."

"**I know."** The Aeon of ice gave her a hard look, **"Brace yourself." **Shiva charged towards her, and then into her.

An image of the ice Aeon Shiva flashed through her mind, before she collapsed to the ground in exhaustion.

* * *

Three hours later the doors of the Chamber of Fayth opened, interrupting the groups' game of 'make up dance moves for the hymn of the Fayth song'

They all looked towards the dark haired thief,

"Nysa?"

"Did you do it?"

Nysa looked towards her friends with a tired smile on her face, "I've done it." She paused and quoted Yuna, "I have become a summoner."

* * *

**-Please review!**


	5. To Bevelle We Go

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 10 or 10-2. I also do not own any of the other random cameos that show up in this fic. However, the main characters are based off of real people… but I don't own them... I just make fun of them.**

**Chapter: Four.**

**To Bevelle we go!**

-

* * *

"Well this is just _peachy_," Nysa grumbled sarcastically, agitated over getting separated with her friends -After she had become a summoner they had made their way back through Macalania, it was night by the time they were close to Bevelle, so they set up camp for the night. The next day they finally made their way to Bevelle, the sun was shining, the birds were chirping, everything was finally going their way- until the Yevonites started shooting at them, that is. The thief still had no idea as to why they were ambushed; the group hadn't even done anything wrong yet! She was just glad they had left their belongings back at the camp… Many of their items were irreplaceable in Spira.

The thief winced, she was crouched behind some crates and her back was starting to hurt, she had been hiding here for the last twenty minutes and she was getting bored. The last she saw of her comrades, Tara and Batalax were being held at gunpoint, Xander had been shot in the chest, Akail was panicking and trying to help Xander by holding his cloak over the wound -_at least that lessened her worries about Xander bleeding to death, because that would be un-cool. _And Skye… gods, she didn't even want to think about it… The female assassin had attacked the head honcho priest guy… She had then been thrown into the Via Purifico, unarmed. Nysa would have attacked the priest herself had she the chance –He was the one who shot Xander.

Peeking over the crates Nysa mumbled, "I need a plan." Her daggers had been confiscated, the only reason she had gotten away at all is because the Yevonites were so stunned; she had pretended to feint, and when they were no longer paying such close scrutiny to her, she ran; she knew that at least one of them had to get away in order to rescue them all -but knowing she was safe while her friends were not just didn't sit well with her. Nysa glanced around her hiding place in anger and coming to a conclusion growled out the words, "No one hurts my friends except me!"

Nysa had never been one for making plans, so why start now? She stood up abandoning her hiding place, and screamed. _That should get there attention!_ The thief smirked. "Help!" She paused and messed up her hair a little, seeing a guard running towards her she inwardly smiled in glee, "Pl –plea—" she added in a fake sob, "P- please h-help m-m-me!"

The young warrior monk looked the girl up and down, He liked what he saw. "What is it Milady?"

Hiding her disgust Nysa forced herself to run to him and grab his arm, "Please! K-kind S-s-sir! There is a-a Fiend!"

The monk growled, "Where?" Nysa forced herself to take on a look of fear and whimper. Seeing her fearful look the monk spoke, "Please miss, where is the Fiend?

Nysa pointedly looked towards the crates she had been hiding behind; the monk took a step towards the crates –turning his back on her. "No." Nysa whispered grinning. "The _Fiend_ is right behind you." Before the monk could comprehend what was happening she had knocked him unconscious. Nysa struck a pose, "And to think, my acting teacher said I was a disappointment; Hah. Stupid Miss. Voykin -I rule!"

Fifteen minutes later, the thief reemerged from behind the crates dressed in the monks' armor. Cringing because of the sweaty helmet Nysa looked towards the temple. _Goddess I hope the others are safe._ Nysa walked towards the temple with an annoyed look on her face, "They are _sooo_ going to owe me for this!"

* * *

"Nu uh! Rock beats everything!" Tara pumped her fist into the air, annoyed that her friend couldn't see the logic of this conversation.

"That may be true in _real _life… but that isn't how the game works!"

Tara scowled, "Fine. Next round." She looked towards Batalax, "Rock. Paper. Scissors!"

Batalax smiled in victory and covered her hand over Tara's fist. "Paper beats rock -I win!"

Tara sighed exasperatedly, "Noo! Rock beats everything!"

She had been trying to convince Batalax for the past hour, but the stubborn mage still had the wacky notion that paper could beat rock; Tara grumbled halfheartedly, "Why do I always get stuck with the insane ones?"

The two girls had been sitting in this cage for far too long, and to make things worse, the cage was hanging over water -Tara had always been afraid of water.

Batalax looked at Tara apprehensively; the blond girl was looking through the bars to the water down below, "A-are you okay Tar?"

Tara growled loudly, "Of course I'm not okay! Skye was thrown into a Fiend infested dungeon –Unarmed!" She paused, and rubbed her eyes tiredly, "Xander is hurt badly…He could be dead-"

"He's not." Batalax spoke with absolute conviction. "Besides, Akail is with him. Xander will be all right."

Tara continued as if she were never interrupted. "And Nysa. We think she got away…but what if she didn't?" She kicked at the bars in frustration, "Let. Us. **Out**!"

* * *

"Damn it!" Skye shouted as she ducked the lupines strike. "This isn't good…" She was completely surrounded by Lupine Fiends. _Strike. Parry. Duck-_ "Ouch!" She hadn't ducked in time. Skye cringed and wiped the blood off her arm. Roll. Strike. Dodge. Run. Kick. Punch. "Yea!" Skye shouted out in victory, her last punch had reduced lupine number six billion to pireflies. Her small victory was fleeting though as she realized six more had come forward to take its place.

"I am _sooo_ dead." She whispered.

She had been fighting for her life for the past hour, but this dungeon was like a maze -It was hard to see her surroundings clearly due to the rooms' darkness, but she was almost positive she had made her way back to the room she had started in. _I can't keep fighting. I'm worn out… I guess this is the end of the line for me. _

Skye was startled out of her thoughts by the sound of insane laughter, "Take that! Fuck I have always wanted to do this!" She opened her eyes and saw a guy about twenty years old shooting every fiend in site with a large crossbow.

The guy grinned. "Hey Sarah." He offered her a hand up, "Need some help?"

Skye looked at the guy in shock, it had been days since someone called her by her Earth name, looking him over she realized that she knew him, "_Dana_?" she cried out in shock. It was Tracy's -err, _Nysa's _older cousin from Earth. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Not now." Was his reply as he threw her a short rapier that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. "Now, we fight." And with that exclamation he shot another two lupines out of existence with his crossbow.

She looked at the sword, then the Fiends, "Finally, something that makes sense!" Skye grinned and slashed away at the last three Lupines. As they all turned to pireflies she looked towards Dana, "Okay, so now tell me, what are you doing here?" She paused and said quietly, "Not that I'm ungrateful… You saved my life -but how?"

Dana started to fade into nothingness, he looked Skye in the eye, "You have all been missing for a month… then some pimped out kid in purple shows up and says I can help you guys when you need it most… through my dreams." He paused as if unsure how to continue, "I can do anything here…because for me, this is a dream." He was now barely visible.

"Wait! Dana, if you can do anything here… bring me to the camp that my stuff is at -and heal Jarrod!"

"Done."

Skye blinked. She was now standing in Macalania Forest, Xander was asleep by the campfire, and Akail was sitting on a log looking confused.

Akail looked up as Skye appeared, "did that guy dressed as a homeless druggy visit you too?"

Sky gave him a blank look and laughed, "That was Nysaria's cousin Dana." Seeing his confused look, she added, "From Earth." Akail looked even more confused, but Skye bypassed him and walked towards Xander. She bent down and checked his pulse, "How is he?"

"Fine." Akail looked at her seriously, "It's as if he was never shot. Ev-even the blood is gone!"

Skye whistled approvingly, "Dana's good."

* * *

"The Maester wishes to see you."

Tara glared. "Have you realized that we have done nothing wrong?"

"This way. Now." The man replied, opening the cage door. "And don't even try to escape… Having your deaths on my hands would be…unfortunate."

Tara crouched over her sleeping friend, "B! -B, wake up!"

The mage sat up groggily, "Where's the fire?"

"No fire B, Maester."

Batalax stood quickly all traces of sleep vanishing, "Are we free to go?"

The man interrupted, "This way traitors. The Maester is not a patient man."

The two girls sighed, "Guess not."

The man led the two weary girls down the many halls of the Bevelle Temple. He finally stopped at a large gold plated door, knocking thrice he called out, "Maester Seymour, I have the two we caught."

Tara and Batalax looked at each other and mouthed the words "two" in confusion, did this mean the others had gotten away? But what of Xander, and Skye? They had been in no position to escape…

Seymour opened the door and looked at the two girls in shock, "Sterge!" he addressed the man, "What is the meaning of this?"

Sterge grimaced, "Milord… I do not understand…?"

"These are not the guardians of Lady Yuna!"

Batalax snarled, "Damn right were not! Now what's the meaning of kidnapping us like this! That priest guy shot Xander! And Skye was stuffed in a fiend infested dungeon!" She glared angrily and added, "-And…we haven't even done anything wrong!"

Tara glared, "With all due respect _Maester_. I believe you have a lot to answer for."

"Sir!" Two warrior monks interrupted dragging the barely conscious form of Nysa between them, "We caught another of the Traitors!"

Tara yanked her arm out of Sterge's grasp, "Nysa!" She glared at the two monks, "If you hurt her so help me god—"

"I'm fine Tara," Nysa cut in smiling sardonically. "But no more attempted rescue missions from me… okay?"

Tara smiled relieved, "Okay, but," she turned to face Seymour, "Can you tell us what's with all the harsh treatment?"

Seymour looked at the monks contemptuously, "I apologize, these fools—" He glanced towards the monks, "Are to blame." He smiled and gestured for the three girls to be released. "You see, there is a rogue Summoners party out there… and there are six members that we have yet to capture. Unfortunately, your summoners party also fits that description.

The six we are after are the guardians of Lady Yuna… They…" he paused, "They wish to harm her. They are working with the Al Bhed. I managed to rescue Lady Yuna from the Al Bhed's Home… But I fear it will not be long till her guardians come after her. They are rather… persistent."

Nysa frowned inwardly, _of course they were persistent! He had kidnapped their summoner, and was going to force her to marry him… which also meant he was already dead. Damn. And I really wanted to be the one to kill him the first time around…_ Nysa was shook out of her dark thoughts by three loud battle cries.

"Ahhhhhhh!" Xander yelled charging at the monks in front of the three girls.

Akail and Skye's attack was much more subdued; they just walked behind Xander saying "Ahhhhh"

Batalax jumped out from behind the monks and clobbered Xander in a hug, "You're alive!"

Skye looked around awkwardly, "We're here to…Uhm, rescue you?"

Akail just smiled, "I don't get it… but we're unarmed so I don't mind the lack of fighting…and…stuff."

"About that…" Tara started, looking at the bemused Maester, "Can we get our equipment back?"

Nysa grinned at Xander, "Your rescue attempt was much better than mine… good job! Although I think you need to work on your stealth a bit…"

Seymour nodded. "Sterge, make haste. Get these people their equipment back immediately!"

"Sir… Xander is it?" Seymour nodded in Xander's direction, "I apologize for any harm that has come to you."

"Sir!" the three monks came back carrying the groups equipment.

"Mr. Tikki!" Batalax cried grabbing her Tikki into a hug, "Oh, how I missed you…"

The rest of the group was equally happy to get their weapons and Items back… but none were quite as exited as Batalax.

"Can we go do the whole 'get the Aeon' thing now?" Akail asked with a grin on his face.

"Sir!" A warrior monk cried running towards the group, "Lady Yuna has awakened!"

Seymour smiled, "Let the wedding ceremony commence!" He looked towards the group, "Sterge will show you to the entrance of the cloister of trials."

Sterge nodded and started leading the group away from the Maester. "This way Lady summoner."

Tara smiled inwardly, if only they knew that all of them were going to be summoners…

"Here we are." Sterge gestured towards the Machina lift.

Nysa smiled at him, it was more of a grimace than anything though. "Thank you." She replied, not really meaning it.

The group smiled at each other and as one the entered the cloisters.

* * *

"Nysa! Are you leading us in circles?"

Nysa smiled sheepishly, "I always had trouble with the Bevelle cloisters…"

"Ah Ha!" Akail cried, "I found the sphere we were looking for!"

Skye frowned, "Now…if only we could find the place where it went."

"It's on the lowest level," Nysa replied, but then added, "Although I have no idea how we get there."

Xander yawned, "I hate having to collect things to go further… it's as bad as the final fantasy games where you have to collect the crystals… those are so annoying!"

Nysa murmured, "Moe would know what to do…"

Batalax looked at the thief like she was crazy, "Moe is a _cat _Nysa."

Nysa glared at the mage, "That's just what he _wants_ you to think!"

Tara gave the mage a stern look, "Moe is a god! A sexy god!"

Akail looked startled, "Sexy? And a God?" He paused dramatically and struck a pose, "That's only possible if it's me!"

Skye sighed, "Can we just start looking for the sphere holder thingy?"

The group continued to glide along on the transporter thing, Nysa mumbled "I really wish Moe was here…"

Xander who was in control of staring the transporter cursed, "I missed the turn… Again."

"Here it is again! Turn!" Skye shouted.

Xander turned. "Yes! Were going down! Weeeeeeee!" he cried out in joy.

"Finally! Were here!" Nysa whispered in relief.

Tara walked over to the sphere holder and placed the glowing sphere in it. "A little help here?" She asked gesturing to the pillar with the sphere in it, "There's no way I can move this by myself."

Akail flexed his muscles, "I'm a sexy beast. I can move it with one arm." He walked over to the pillar and pushed on it -it barely moved. "A little help?" he asked looking towards Xander. The two guys finally managed to push the pillar onto the teleport pad, where it then started to glow.

Tara smiled, "I think that means we can go now." She looked towards Nysa, "This is the last part of the trials right?"

Nysa nodded and spoke, "It is. Or at least it is in the game."

* * *

"So this is it?"

"We finally get to ask our questions…"

"We get to find out why were here…"

"We get to find out why someone was stupid enough to give Nysa something sharp…"

"Yea…" Nysa started, "Wait! Hey! I resent that comment Akail!"

"Getting back on track," Akail started, "are we ready?"

"Fuck yea."

"Yea."

"I think so…"

"Me and Mr. Tikki are ready."

"Must I?"

"Okay then," Akail said. "What now?"

"We do this." Nysa stated as she did the Yevon Prayer.

The door opened and the group all took deep breaths.

"Let's get er' done."

And so the entered Bahamut's chamber.

* * *

"**Hello Tracy, Karina, Sarah, Jarrod, Emily, and Natthan." **Bahamut spoke looking them all in the eye. **"I have been waiting for you."**

"Can we ask our questions now?" Batalax inquired.

"**Impatient as always, I see." **The Fayth smiled. **"Yes Emily. It is time you shall ask your questions." **

The group quietly conversed with each other. "Okay, we all know what we want to ask."

"**Jarrod first." **The Fayth nodded towards the brown eyed teen.** "State your new name, and your question."**

Xander took a step forward. "Xander Payne." He looked towards the Fayth child, "My question is," he paused. "What happens if we die here?"

The child Fayth looked over the group with a serious look. **"If you die you wake up at the last save point you personally used. You will not have to redo anything, but any skills you have learned in that time are gone… But if you all die… there is no coming back."**

Xander sighed, "I wish to become a summoner."

Bahamut nodded. "**I know. You all do. And you will be able to summon me by the time you leave this room."** And with that the Dragon known as Bahamut charged into Xander. The warrior smiled and collapsed to the ground unconscious.

"**Natthan next." **The Fayth pointed towards the blue eyed teen.** "State your new name, and your question."**

Akail took a slow step forward. "My new name is Commander Akail." He paused and glanced back towards his friends. "What I want to know is…" he stopped and thought about how to word his question. "Can we change the timeline of the game? Like, as in…can we interfere and change things with the main characters so things happen differently?

Bahamut smiled. **"You are here to change things. So yes, you can interfere and change things…in fact I count on you doing just that."**

Akail nodded and braced himself as the Dragon Bahamut merged with him. "Cool" he whispered as he passed out.

"**Sarah next." **The Fayth looked towards female assassin.** "State your new name, and your question."**

"Skye Kane." She stated. "I want to know…" she whispered, "Will we ever get to go home?"

The Fayth nodded. **"If you survive." **And with that the Dragon charged into the assassin. The boy Fayth watched as she crumpled to the ground in exhaustion.

Turning, Bahamut located his next charge.** "Tracy next." **The Fayth smiled at the green eyed thief.** "State your new name, and your question."**

"Nysaria Desert-Croft." Nysa frowned slightly, "My question is… What is it that you want us to do?"

Bahamut gave her a grim look. **"We need you to defeat Sin a different way. I have seen the future… And I don't wish it to happen like that. We Aeons wish to help in the final battle… But not the way Lady Yuna will attempt if left to her own devices." **The Fayth paused sadly, **"We wish to rest… we're tired. But we can not truly rest if emerged in darkness."**

Nysa smiled. "So you want us to defeat sin without having Yevon possess you and the other Fayths?" Bahamut nodded, and Nysa opened her arms wide as if inviting the Dragon into her. The thief smiled as he merged with her, and collapsed to the ground with a tired smile on her face.

"**Karina next." **The Fayth gestured towards the blond.** "State your new name, and your question."**

"My name is Tara Adara." She paused and looked at Nysa who was still conscious. "Why us? I mean… out of the millions of people you could have chosen for this mission… why did you choose us?"

Bahamut smiled. **"Because… the six of you are all powerful on your own… But together… you could be unstoppable."**

"But –but we're not powerful! We haven't even graduated high school! The only ones out of us who know how to fight are Nysa and Xander!"

"**It's true, your power is untapped. But it won't be for long. I can assure you that." **The Fayth nodded and charged into her.

"Whoa…" Tara whispered as she slumped to the ground dead asleep.

"**And last but not least, Emily." **The Fayth nodded towards the impatient mage.** "State your new name, and your question."**

"I am the great Tikki wielding, Ophelia Batalax… But you can call me Batalax." The mage smiled. "My question is actually more of a request…" she stated. "Can the six of us each get something from our homes transported to our camp?"

Bahamut smiled, **"As you wish. I will send you each something that is of great meaning to you."**

"Yay!" she grinned, "Oh and before you do the whole whoosh, charging into me thing… can I sit down? Falling down is not on my list of thinks I like to do…"

Bahamut gave her an incredulous look, but nodded anyway. After she had sat down, he charged into her causing her to pass out. As there was no one else in the room, Bahamut smiled, nodded at the barely conscious Nysa, and vanished.

* * *

Two hours later Nysa woke up. _Hmm, it must take less and less time to adjust the more Aeons you get…_

The sound of light footfalls met her ears, "Damn it! I thought we had more time!" She went over to Xander and shook him. "Xand! Wake up! Hurry!"

The Warrior sat up groggily, "Whaz' going on?"

"Help me wake the others!" She said urgently, "Yuna's coming… We need to get out of here! I thought we had more time…But the ceremony must be over… When everything was quiet I could hear someone going through the trials…"

"Right!" Xander shook himself awake, "Batalax! Up! Now!"

"Nnnn…"

"Now!"

Batalax sat up. "Huh?"

Nysa smiled at her, "Cast a minor water spell at our friends! We need them awake! And hurry!"

"**Water!**"

Akail, Tara, and Skye sat up quickly and glared at Batalax.

Batalax smiled sheepishly, and pointed at Nysa and Xander, "They made me do it!"

The door to the chamber started to open.

"Damn it!" Nysa cursed.

"We're too late…" Xander added.

"Why? What's going on guys?"

A shocked voice startled the group, "Oh my… I'm so sorry!"

"Lady Yuna! Don't worry… we were just leavin—"

"**Hello Yuna."**

Yuna did the sign of the prayer. "I've come to ask for your help."

Nysa and Tara shared a look, "I knew we had forgotten something!"

"**I know. Brace yourself." **The Aeon charged the petite girl.

Yuna stumbled to her knees as the door opened once again. A blond guy ran into the room and kneeled beside Yuna. "Are you alright? -Who are you people?" He addressed the last part to them.

"I am Summoner Nysa, from the… rural village of Robson."

"I am Summoner Skye, also from the…village of Robson."

"I'm the great Tikki wielding Summoner Batalax from the forgotten isle of Glade-erie." She added the last part to make it sound more fantasy-like.

"My name is Tara. I am a Summoner from the town of Castlegar."

"Name's Xander. I'm a Summoner from Castlegar as well.

"And I am Akail, Summoner from the mystical realm of the United States of America."

The spiky blond haired guy gave them all skeptical looks, "You're _all_ Summoners?"

"Mmm Hmm."

"Yep."

"Damn Skippy."

"Yes we are…"

"Fuck Yea!"

"Well, as I always say… Get er' done!"

"Well," the blond started, "I'm Tidus, and I'm a guardian of Yuna."

"Well, let's go Yun-" Tidus started

"No!" Cried Nysa. "We need a plan first. Your friends are all being held at gun point right now… If you go out right now, you'll be ambushed and thrown into the Via Purifico!"

Tidus glanced at her, "Why would you say something like that?"

Tara bit her lip, "You see… Nysa and Xander are Seers."

"Yea… we can sometimes see the future…" Xander added.

Nysa inwardly smiled '_Thank gods for Tara. Now I don't have to hide the fact that I know what's going to happen a good portion of the time!_' "We don't usually tell anyone…"

"Okay, so there are about ten Warrior monks out this door." Nysa stated.

"How many people do we have on our side out there?"

"Five. Lulu is a mage; Rikku is an alchemist, Sir Auron, Wakka, and Kimahri are all warriors." Tidus stated.

"Okay." Xander spoke up, "So we have five out there, and eight in here. But they don't know us six are here, so we can catch them off guard."

"Lets do this, you two go out first," Skye gestured to Tidus and Yuna. "And we'll come out after. Do not worry too much about getting hurt, Tara, myself, and Akail have been working on our white magics."

"Okay." Tidus whispered, "Let's do this."

Yuna opened the door and walked out, Tidus right behind her. The Yevonites grabbed on to them immediately.

"Don't try to fight or we'll shoot. You're out numbered ten to seven-"

"Actually," Nysa murmured walking out of Bahamut's chamber with the others following, "_You're_ outnumbered thirteen to ten."

"It's Mr. Tikki time!" Batalax cried readying herself to start casting, "**Fire!**" Batalax shouted, pointing her Tikki at the guard holding Yuna.

Tara yawned and pulled out her gun, "I'm going to kill you." And she did.

"Fuck off and die!" Xander cried attacking the guards holding Rikku and running them through with his sword. Rikku smiled at him in gratitude and pulled on her Thunder targe.

The Al Bhed thief ran to her first victim and grabbed his pouch of items from his side, "You won't be needing this…"

Auron broke free of the two holding him and pulled his own sword out, "Some can't wait to die!"

Nysa pulled out her daggers, "If all else fails… Hit em' with a shovel." She ran to her first target, kneed him in the stomach and sliced at him. As the monk turned to pireflies a small pouch of items was left behind, Nysa picked it up with a smile, "For me? You shouldn't have!"

"Anyone thirsty?" Lulu shouted, powering up for her spell, "**Waterga!**"

Skye was fighting with one of the monks, he was winning. "A little help here?" Tidus joined the fight and slashed the monk from behind. "Thanks Ty!"

Tidus smiled and went back to guarding Yuna. "How you doing Yuna?"

"Alright," she whispered casting another cure spell. "It's too small of a space to summon…"

Akail finished off a monks attacking Wakka with a well aimed throwing knife he had borrowed from Nysa.

"Save some for Kimahri!" the small Ronso cried as he finished off the last of the monks.

"Who _are_ you people?" Lulu asked eyeing the earthlings suspiciously.

"No time for introductions right now… we gotta jet." Skye claimed.

"C'mon, we have a camp set up in Macalania; you guys can come with us."

"I think we should," Yuna whispered. "Yes. We will go with you."

Nysa smiled at her, _such a brave girl Yuna is… to bad she lives in such a harsh time. _

The group of thirteen made there way back through the cloister of trials, when they got to where the lift was, Tara stopped them. "Wait guys, they are probably all waiting for us up there… Why don't we fly out?"

Yuna smiled, "Good idea Tara!"

"Who'll do the summoning?" Xander asked.

"I will." Skye stated. "Are you guys ready?"

"What is going on?" Auron asked glaring at all the teens.

Yuna smiled up at him, "Tara, and her friends are all summoners. We plan of summoning Bahamut, seeing as he can fly. And then we will fly out of the temple to the camp."

"Hmph." Was Auron's reply.

"Okay, everyone stand back… I've never done this before." Skye mumbled. She closed her eyes and tried to locate Bahamut's presence in her body, finding it she grasped it and called out to him. _Please come to me…_

In a flash of color and silent explosions, Bahamut appeared. "Okay, let's do this." Skye climbed up onto the Dragons back, "All aboard the Bahamut express, keep your hands and feet on the ride at all times, and hold on tight!"

The other twelve members of the party shrugged and climbed aboard.

**-

* * *

**

**Please review! Reviews make me smile Even if their flames… I don't care. I like fire.**


	6. The Summoners Parade

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 10 or 10-2. I also do not own any of the other random cameos that show up in this fic. However, the main characters are based off of real people… but I don't own them... I just make fun of them.**

**Chapter: Five.**

**The summoners' parade!**

* * *

The group made it back to the camp by nightfall, the forest was cold, but the openness was a welcome relief to the earth group after being stuck in the temple for so long, it had been a _really_ long day.

"So then I was running, there were fiends _everywhere_… I thought I was going to die down there… I was unarmed, so it's a miracle I made it that far by myself…and then guess who shows up and saves the day?"

Tara looked at Skye bemusedly; the assassin was retelling the story of her adventure in the Via Purifico. Realizing Skye was waiting for her to acknowledge the question, Tara sighed. "Who saved the day?"

Skye wore the typical smile of '_I know something you don't know_' "Dana." She replied, smiling.

"Dana? As in my cousin Dana?" Nysa asked, joining the conversation.

Skye nodded, "He said he was able to come here through his dreams…or something. He was the one who got Xander and Akail out of their holding cell, and he cured Xander. He also teleported me to the camp, which was _way_ cool. I really didn't like the Visa pure-if-a-place."

"Via Purifico." Nysa corrected exasperatedly.

"Whatever— but anyways, that place sucked big time."

"Mmm hmm," Tara replied, not really paying attention.

Nysa smiled at her two friends, "I'm going to go talk to Rikku, see you guys in a bit -ohh, and when Batalax comes back with Xander and Akail… tell them I need to talk to them." Nysa walked out of the small clearing and took a small shortcut down towards where the Spiran group had set up their camp. "Hello, we didn't really get to talk much earlier. My name's Nysa." She smiled at the group, "Where's Lady Yuna?"

"Yunie, Tidus and Kimahri, are over that way," Rikku said pointing down the path that lead to the lake. "Well, Kimahri is at the beginning of the path… he takes his job of Yuna's guardian really seriously." She paused, "So, you guys are _all_ summoners? Does that mean you guys don't have guardians?"

Nysa nodded, "We have little need for guardians as we all know fighting techniques that have nothing to do with summoning."

"So you're a seer, ya?"

Nysa looked up at Wakka startled, she had forgotten about the whole seer thing. "…Yea, but I would rather not talk about it, I can't control it… and sometimes seeing the future isn't such a good thing." To herself she mumbled, "not that my knowledge of the future will help much…as I plan to change a bunch of things…"

Wakka nodded seriously, "Ya' I'd bet. If I could see the future and saw myself fighting the Maester -I'd have thought I'd gone crazy!"

"You fought the Maester!" Nysa pretended to be scandalized, "No wonder he was after you!" _I can't let them know I know why they did it… I may be a 'seer' but I told them I couldn't control it. It would seem awfully suspicious if I showed that I knew everything about them…_

"The Maester was corrupted."

Nysa looked towards Auron, "Was corrupted? As in not any more?"

"He is an unsent."

Nysa had to bite her tongue in order to not call out _'So are you!' _ Now was not the time to be making enemies, even though Mr. Auron-I'm-so-better-than-you, was looking at her as if she was a piece of dirt. She looked up at Auron, and all witty comments left her. "Oh… Well, that's...not good. I guess." She could see why so many fan-girls were obsessed with him; he was_ hot_ !

Lulu looked towards her, "You have a black mage in your group, do you not?"

"Mmm Hmm, Batalax is a black mage. Tara also knows the basics of black magic." She looked towards the gothic mage, "Why do you ask Lady Lulu?"

"I was just wondering where she had learned it, she's rather young, but yet she seems to hold a lot of power…"

"Uhhh… Learned? B's only been a mage for the past couple days… it comes to her naturally… I thought it was like that for all mages?"

Lulu gave her a shocked look. "It took me many years to be able to channel the magic…before I could even attempt to cast a spell. It has been years since there was a true born mage… the last known one was Lady Yunalesca!"

"Wow…" Nysa cringed, "Can you refrain from telling Batalax this? Her ego's goon size as it is… if it got any bigger I doubt she would be able to hold up her head… she's almost got as much of an ego problem as Xander lately!"

"We won't tell! Promise!" Rikku replied for Lulu.

"NYSA! Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp!"

"Uhhh, that's me," Nysa stated lamely. "I should probably get with the helping… See you later!"

* * *

"What's the what?" Nysa asked jogging to where she heard Akail's yell.

"A Spherimorph! That's what!" Xander cried dodging yet another attack. "Nothing we do is hurting it!"

"Where Batalax?"

"Over there unconscious…" he pointed behind the Spherimorph. "Akail's watching out for her."

"Has the Spherimorph changed colors yet?"

"No, -move!" he pushed Nysa down out of the way as the fiend did his oh so annoying 'press' attack.

"Thanks a mil Xand." Nysa whispered getting up. "Can you distract the fiend so I can get to B?" seeing his nod Nysa jumped up and rolled underneath the fiend. "Akail, watch my back, I'm going to use a phoenix down on B." Nysa reached into her yellow pouch for a phoenix down and carefully opened the vile, not wanting to spill any of it. She pulled Batalax's head onto her lap and poured the vile into the mages throat. "Drink up B," she whispered massaging her friends' throat so as to make her swallow.

Batalax sat up immediately. "Ouch! That thing sure does pack a punch…"

Nysa gestured urgently, "Quick, use doublecast and Blizzaga! I'll use my copycat skill."

"**Doublecast! Blizzaga**!"

"**Copycat**!"

Akail, seeing that the girls attack actually did a lot of damage cast Scan. "The fiend only has two thousand _HP _left!"

Tara and Skye ran into the clearing, "we heard your yell! Sorry it took so long for us to get here, we ran into a group of Ice Flans…"

"Thank god Tara knows some black magic, otherwise we'd have been screwed!"

"It's changing colors!"

"Cast Ultima B!"

"I'll cast Holy!"

Batalax smiled, Ultima was her favorite spell. "**Ultima!**"

"**Holy**!" Nysa cried a millisecond after B had finished casting her spell.

Xander grinned and struck the fiend with his sword. It gave the fiend three hundred and forty _HP_. "Uhh, Fuck."

Tara sighed, "**Flare**!"

The Spherimorph erupted into pireflies. Akail cheered and reached into his bag, pulling out his iPod. He pressed the play button and the final fantasy victory song started playing through the loud speakers.

Nysa gave the American an incredulous look, "where did you get that?"

Akail smiled sheepishly, "It was in my bag when I got back to the camp."

"Oh, -"

"Yes!" Batalax cheered, "Bahamut is the best! I asked him to send us all something we really like from our homes… C'mon! Let's go back to the camp! I want to check and see what he sent me!"

* * *

"Spoons?" The mage looked at her bag as if it betrayed her, "He sent me _spoons_?"

"And cards," Akail added helpfully.

"Yay! We can play spoons now!" Batalax cried out, suddenly happy once again.

"But we don't have any hookers…" Tara whined.

"Not you too Tara! Batalax's brother has corrupted you! Nooooooooooooo!" Nysa cried out horrified.

"We've got Skye…"

"Xander!" The offended assassin screeched, "I am not a hooker!"

"What did you get Tara?" Xander asked changing the subject away from Skye.

The blond squealed happily, "Face lotion! Now I don't have to worry about dry skin and wrinkles!"

Xander looked at the blond gun mage, and thought to himself, '_sane? Yea right!'_ he coughed awkwardly, "Sooo, Nysa? What did you get?"

The green eyed girl shrugged, "I got a note… it says: _What I wished to send you… did not wish to be sent… I managed to capture it, but it got away. I believe you will find it in Luca._"

"Moe? Do you think it's Moe?" Tara asked grinning.

"Maybe!"

"What about you Xand?" Skye asked.

Akail answered for him, "The loud speakers that I used with my iPod…"

"Sure is some messed up humor that Bahamut gave you all the final fantasy ten music…Haha." Nysa whispered cheerfully.

"Skye? What'd you get?" Akail asked.

"My rollerblades… and, I think these are your rollerblades Nysa." She spoke gesturing to a pair of scratched up black rollerblades.

"Yay!" Nysa grinned.

"Uhm, Hello." A quiet voice whispered.

"Oh, hey Rikku!" Tara smiled.

"I just wanted to make sure you guys were alright… you left so suddenly earlier…"

"We're all fine, thanks for asking Rikki!" Nysa replied.

"Are you alright Rikku? You look kind of upset…"

"Oh, I'm fine…" she frowned at the fakeness of her voice, "I just thought I should give Yuna and Tidus some time alone…"

Nysa frowned, _so Rikku had saw Tidus kissing Yuna… poor girl. I had always thought there was some chemistry going on between Rikku and Tidus when I played the game… it must be hard for Rikku to realize her attraction is unreturned…_

"Guy trouble?"

Rikku looked at Skye with a shocked look on her face, "How -how did you know?" she blushed.

"I've been where you are before… a lot. C'mon, let's go talk…" Skye whispered leading the distraught girl away.

Once they were gone Xander frowned, "How old is Rikku anyways?"

"Fifteen," Nysa replied sadly. "She's only fifteen…but she's been through so much. Just days ago her home was destroyed…and many of the people she grew up with were slaughtered. Her cousin is on a suicide mission, the guy she likes…likes her cousin…" Nysa paused, "Rikku is a living example of why we must defeat Sin. No one should have to go through what that girl's gone through."

Solemn silence filled the camp.

* * *

"I think we should split up."

"_What_?"

"_Why_?"

It was around six in the morning, the group had been woken up by a fiend attack. Akail had woken up briefly to roll over, but instead had fallen out of the tree he had been sleeping in; the noise must have attracted fiends because when he opened her eyes, the camp was surrounded. Luckily they had all went to sleep rather early the last night, and were well rested to fight.

"Well, the way I see it, if we went in a group to get all the Aeons, it would take _forever_. So I propose we all split up to get our separate Aeons and then meet up in Luca."

"That's all nice, but one problem. You and Xander are the only ones who know where the Aeons are."

"It's simple Skye, you go to Kilika, Akail goes to Besaid, Tara goes to Baaj and Batalax goes to Djose. Xander's location is the only one that worries me… his involves a lot of money and fighting fiends."

"But how do we find these-"

"Bahamut knows the way."

"Okay…" Tara whispered. "So when do we meet in Luca?"

"When we've obtained the Aeons we are searching for, I guess."

"But what if one of us doesn't show up?"

"How about… we each get two weeks? If for some reason one of us doesn't show up by the two weeks are up… we'll go looking for them. Bahamut will probably be able to track each of us down…"

"So make sure to use every save point you see…and make sure to build up your skills. We've already pretty well mastered our main skills on the sphere grid… I think it's time to branch out, I think we should all learn cure magic. I'm just glad we seem to have it much easier than it actually is in the game."

"Yea, what's with that? We've been getting new skills left and right… it takes so much longer in the actual game…"

"Bahamut said we're all powerful… maybe that's why?"

"Hmmm… maybe."

"Mr. Tikki says we're uber powerful."

Skye gave the mage a bemused smile, "_Mr. Tikki_ , is an inanimate object."

Batalax gave the assassin a horrified look, "to quote Nysa, '_That's just what he wants you to think _! ' Mr. Tikki knows all!"

Tara and Nysa laughed nervously.

"So when do we go?"

"I'm thinking we should go now. Before we change our minds…"

"I don't want to go alone…"

"You're not alone as long as you have Bahamut." Nysa exclaimed.

"You're right… I'm going to go now before I lose the courage." Tara smiled and summoned Bahamut. Climbing on top of the great dragon she smiled at her friends, "See you in Luca!" and then she was gone.

"Well, I'm of to Besaid." Akail exclaimed, climbing upon his own summoned dragon. "See you all in two weeks… be safe!"

"Wait Akail! Let Skye go with you, Kilika is close to Besaid." Nysa said.

"Hmm, see you all later!" Skye exclaimed climbing onto the dragon next to Akail.

"Well, I'm off!" Batalax spoke dramatically. "Wish us luck my fellow epic quest members!"

Xander gave Nysa a befuddled look, and mouthed 'us' to her. "Good luck Batalax!"

Batalax gave the two a pointed look as if urging them to continue. "Right…" Nysa whispered. "Good luck to Mr. Tikki too!"

Batalax smiled and mounted her dragon; she smiled and murmured, "Gosh, I really hate the term 'epic quest' …"

"Bye B!"

"See you in Luca Batalax!" the two friends waved to the flying away mage.

"And then there were two." Nysa whispered looking at Xander. "Do you want me to come with you to get Yojimbo?"

Xander shrugged nonchalantly, "Nah, it's not too far from here… and isn't that where Yuna and here party are going next? I'll just go with them."

"if you're sure…" Nysa smiled at her friend, "Be careful."

"What are you going to do?"

Nysa smiled wistfully, "I'm going to go ride the Shoopuf!"

Xander gave the thief an amused look, "You…do that.."

"See you in Luca Xand," She reached over and gave her taller friend a hug, "Be careful in the cave where Yojimbo resides… in the game the bad guys were really tough there."

Xander smiled at her embrace, "See you in Luca Ny."

* * *

"Where to now, Bahamut?"

Tara was standing on the broken walkways of Baaj Island. The perpetual storminess of the island had her wearing her black cloak. _I look like the bad guy in this cloak! _ The cloak was the same cloak that the Organization Thirteen members wore in Kingdom Hearts Two._ Goddess it's cold… and there's water everywhere… I hate water._

"**Into the underwater cave.**"

"_What! _ I _hate_ water!" she gulped nervously, "I don't -I don't have to swim to get to this cave do I?" she gave the Aeon a pleading look as if begging him to tell her she need not go near the water.

* * *

"Weeeeeeeeeee! Faster Bahamut! Faster!" Batalax was having the time of her life; she was currently riding her 'pet dragon' through the thunder planes, dodging bolts of lightning.

"Hmmm, what's this?" she dismissed her Dragon. "What a funny looking town…" she walked up the path towards one of the strange looking people and tapped them on the shoulder. "Excuse me… but could you tell me where I am? This is my fist time traveling…"

The green haired lady smiled, "Welcome to Guadosalam; the town of the Guado."

"It's nice… the smell reminds me of cooking spices, I like it." Batalax paused, "Wait, Guado? As in Seymour Guado? The Maester?" silently she added 'the evil blue haired pain in the Tikki.'

"Yes, this is the where the home of the great Maester Seymour Guado resides."

Batalax grinned, "Cool."

"It is rather chilly today isn't it?"

Batalax gave the lady a blank look and mumbled to herself, "it's an expression…"

"Did you say something?"

"Oh, just thinking out loud is all." She smiled sheepishly, "Heeey, can you tell me which way I go to get to Djose Temple?"

* * *

"Well Skye, this is your stop."

Skye smiled at Akail. "Thanks for the lift."

"Bye Akail!" Sky whispered, walking up the destructed wreck that once was the bustling village Kilika… "Did sin do this?" she murmured in fear. Shaking the dark thoughts out of her mind, Skye walked up to a little kid that was running around. "Hey Kid," she whispered, "can you tell me which way to the Kilika temple?"

The kid smiled and replied, "When I grow up I want to be a Blitzball!"

Skye backed up a couple steps. "Uhm…. Ooookaaaaaayy…" she frowned slightly, "I'll just be over here… away."

Skye walked to a man sitting on the end of the dock, _he looks saner…_ "Uhm, hello," she addressed nervously.

The man looked up at her startled, "Hello, Do I know you?"

"Uhh, no… I don't think so."

The man sighed disappointedly, "So you have no idea who I am?"

"Sorry…But no…This is my first time to Kilika."

"Oh… This is Kilika? Do I live here?"

Skye gave him a befuddled look. "I don't know?"

The man sighed. "I guess I'll have to keep waiting. It's rather bothersome not knowing who you are."

"Yea… It would be…" Skye whispered backing up. "I'm going to…go now. Bye." She ran back towards the center of the village. "Maybe Nysa was right all this time… Maybe sanity _is_ overrated. Everyone here seems to be a couple fruit loops away from a whole bowl…" Skye sighed, _Ifrit…where are you?_

_

* * *

_

"I am Luzzu of the Crusaders. Who might you be?"

The assassin smiled, "I am the Summoner Commander Akail, from the forgotten continent of Earth."

"Forgotten continent? I do not know of any forgotten continent."

Akail grinned sardonically, "Thus why it's called the _forgotten_ continent." The American sighed, he had just got to Besaid, and he was _tired_. It was a nice island though, a tropical paradise –or it would be if not for the constant threat of Sin attacking. "Nice beach…" he complimented.

"Yea, it's where the Aurochs practice Blitzball. They cleaned it up nicely." Luzzu exclaimed proudly.

_Aurochs? Blitzball? Huh? _ Akail smiled and nodded, hoping the older man wouldn't see the confusion showing on his face. "So, do you think you could show me to the Besaidian Temple?"

Luzzu nodded, happy that he was able to help a summoner. He had only recently returned to the island after the death of Gatta. It was nice to be home…but it would never again be the same without the younger crusaders' determination filling the island. "This way,"

Akail smiled, "This was too easy… even the fiends I fought on the way here were terribly weak… how retarded…" he mumbled to himself.

"Did you say something Sir. Commander?"

Akail looked up startled; he hadn't realized he had been complaining out loud. "Oh, no, I was just… thinking loudly." He smiled awkwardly. '_Nice one Akail'_ he admonished himself inaudibly.

* * *

"Excuse me, Lady Yuna?"

"Yes?" the dainty girl asked turning around, "Oh! Hello Sir. Xander!" she looked around unobtrusively, "Where are your friends?"

"We… decided to split up. It was necessary, in order to obtain all the Aeons." He paused, "I am planning to go pray at the Cave of the Stolen Fayth…"

"-That's where we're going!" Rikku cut in.

"Would you like to come with us Sir. Xander?"

Xander smiled inwardly, "I wouldn't want to intrude…"

"You wouldn't be intrudin' brudda! The more the merrier ya?"

"Sir. Auron, can he come with us?" Yuna looked at the older guardian pleadingly.

"Hmph." Auron hmphed.

"C'mon Auron!" Tidus added.

"You can come Sir. Xander." Lulu whispered.

"Thanks guys!" Xander grinned, "I make a mean Lupine steak!" _Score one for me!_

_

* * *

_

"Ride ze' Shoopuf?"

Nysa squealed, "Shoopuf!" It was sort of like an elephant, except it could swim. Nysa shrugged, maybe elephants could swim too?

"I'll ride the Shoopuf!"

"All aboard!" The little blue man slurred.

"I've never met a Hypello before…" Nysa addressed the blue swaying…thing. "What kind of food do you like?"

The Hypello glanced at the talkative girl, "Shame ash everyshabodysh elsh missh."

Nysa smiled, "You talk cool!"

The Hypello ignored her and continued to drive the shoopuf.

Nysa wasn't deterred though, "What's it like being blue?"

-

* * *

**Please review!**


	7. Aeons Ahoy

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 10 or 10-2. I also do not own any of the other random cameos that show up in this fic. However, the main characters are based off of real people… but I don't own them... I just make fun of them.**

**Chapter: Six.**

**Aeons ahoy!**

**

* * *

**

Tara groaned, it was dark out, it was cold out, and she was surrounded by_ water_. _I must have done something wrong in a past life_, out loud she mumbled, "There is no way in hell that I am jumping off this cliff…into _water _! I would drown! Not to mention that there are fiends down there…in the _water._" She spat the word water out like a curse.

The sun had completely disappeared about an hour ago, not that it was shining too brightly over the stormy island to begin with, but just the sun being there had been comforting. "Why did Nysa let me come here? She knows how I feel about water…" Tara groaned again. "I wonder what the rest of the group is up to right now?" she asked herself out loud.

The blond gracefully sat down on the ledge and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear, "What to do…what to do…" she whispered in fear. A loud clicking noise had her turning and pulling out her gun.

"Who's there?" she asked not really expecting an answer due to the island being abandoned.

"Click. Click."

"Okay, that's it." Tara murmured stepping towards the source of the noise. "Come out or I'll shoot!" silently she added, "I'm going to shoot you either way, so why not make it easier on yourself."

The fiend came out from behind a shattered cement pillar. Tara yelped; it was _enormous_! Tara shot at it three times experimentally, the fiend didn't even flinch. "Uh oh…" she backed up a step, "**Scan**!" _4000 HP, 9999 MP, weak against Thunder._

Tara winced, "I don't have thunder!" she paused, "Wait… Nysa said I'm a gray mage… shouldn't that mean I can do black magic as well as white?" _I used black magic back in Macalania… but it happened so fast and so instinctively that I don't know how I did it. _Tara looked towards her gun; _maybe I can use my gun as an outlet for the magic?_

The blond looked towards the towering fiend; she aimed her gun and focused on pushing her magic through it in the form of lightning. "**Thundaga Bullet**!" she pulled the trigger.

The magic powered bullet exploded on contact with the fiend, causing instant death. Tara smiled at the pretty pireflies, not noticing the damage her magic had done to the cement bridge she was standing on. Now that the coast was clear, the gun mage turned and looked gloomily at the water below once again.

A loud cracking noise startled her out of her dark thoughts, "What's that sound?" she mumbled, her teal eyes trying in vain to locate where the noise was coming from. It was too late when she finally realized it was the bridge she was standing on that was cracking. It collapsed in an explosion of falling debris; and Tara fell with it, into the cold water below.

* * *

Batalax smiled, this forest was sooo pretty! The mage had strapped her Tikki to her back, and stuffed her oversized purple hat into her tiny pouch that was big on the inside. Her dark hair came down to her shoulder blades, she currently was braiding it, taking the braids out and then braiding it again.

One of the Guado had given her some pretty decent directions to where she wanted to go… She could have just rode Bahamut, but she wanted to walk so she could fight more fiends. Batalax was determined to learn _everything_ on her sphere grid. She already had her black magic mastered, so now she was working on blue magic -which Nysa had mentioned was only usable by the Ronso tribe… but she wasn't having any problems with it, so maybe Nysa was mistaken?

"Fiends…" she mumbled, and then louder she cried, "Where are youuu?"

Batalax grinned; she had finally made her way through the forest, "What is this place?" she asked in an awed voice.

"The Moonflow." Came the sullen reply.

"Thanks -Wait, Nysa?" Batalax looked at the pouting girl in shock, "What are you doing here? -What's wrong?"

"I was thrown off the Shoopuf!" the green eyed girl whined. "When we were in the middle of the Moonflow!" She growled slightly, "Apparently, mentioning their skin color is considered taboo."

Batalax winced and looked at her friend in sympathy. "So that's why you look all wet. -and wait! How did you get here before me?"

"I, unlike you, didn't spend over half a day playing in the Thunder Plains." The thief glared, although her smile showed she wasn't really all that upset, "I walked right past you… I even waved…and yelled." She paused, "But noooo, you and Bahamut just continued on your merry way... back and forth… back and forth."

Batalax gave a nervous giggle and changed the subject, "sooo about that Shoe-Plough," she paused and dug through her pouch, "Ah ha!" she handed Nysa her large purple hat. "Wear this and your cloak."

Nysa smiled, "Thanks B! And its Shoopuf, not Shoe-plough…" she smiled and donned the organization thirteen look-a-like cloak and the pointy hat. The two girls walked towards the shoopuf.

"Ride ze' Shoopuf?"

"You do the talking," Nysa whispered.

"Yes, we wish to ride the Shoopuf." Batalax smiled down at the little blue man.  
"Is there a city below us Ny?"

"Yea, it's the ruins of an ancient Machina City… they built the city over the water-"

"That wasn't very smart!" Batalax cut in.

The shoopuf docked, and the Hypello spoke, "Havesh ee niysh day!"

The two girls nodded politely and started to walk down the Moonflow. One girl was headed to Djose, while the other was headed to Luca. "Oh," Nysa whispered startled, "Here's your hat B," she laughed slightly, "I had forgotten I was wearing it," she handed the hat back to its owner.

"No problem Nysa, I was getting annoyed with it anyways," she stuffed the hat back into her item pouch. "Hey, do you think the others are okay?"

Nysa frowned, "Actually, the only one I'm worried about is Tara." She paused, "I had forgotten that to get Anima you had to go underwater, I hope she's okay…"

"Well, we don't have to be in Luke-ah till next week, so why don't you go find Tara and make sure she's fine so you can stop worrying?"

"I think I will." Nysa stopped walking and closed her eyes, _Bahamut… please come to me… I need you now. Please take me to Tara._ Bahamut crash landed in an explosion of silent colors.

Batalax grinned, "I'll never get over how damn _pretty_ that is."

* * *

Skye slashed her sword through the annoying wasp fiend, "Gosh, today is just not my day." She paused, "It must be Tuesday."

She had finally found the way she had to go in order to find the temple, but the forest separating the village from the temple was _huge_! To sum things up, Skye was lost. Night had fallen about an hour ago, and she could barely see, not to mention she was almost positive she had a bunch of monkeys stalking her -and although they were cute, there were a lot of them, and they were all following her… it was slightly creepy.

Skye smothered a yawn, she was _tired_.. Why did this forest have to be so damn big! No one had told her it was like a days walk to the temple… she had assumed it was just a short trek through the woods. _Short trek my ass!_

_

* * *

_

The Spiran group (plus Xander) was ambushed at the end of the Calm lands. They had been walking all day, the chocobo guy wasn't in the calm lands yet so they couldn't ride, not that Auron would have let them in the first place.

Xander smirked, "I knew this was going to happen."

"Then why didn't you warn us, ya?"

Xander shrugged in bemusement, "Just funnier this way, I guess?" he smiled brightly at the Machina towering over the group, "Who do you work for! The Bureaucrats or the Republicans?" he paused, "Either way… Prepare to die!"

Rikku gave him a befuddled look, "It's a Machina Xander… it's not alive in the first place." She paused, and what are a bureaucrat and republican?

"Oh." Xander smiled sheepishly, "Nothing important.

"Let's do this, it looks like it's powering up for an attack," Tidus paused, "It's kind of slow… we've been standing here talking for ten minutes."

"Sir Auron?" Wakka addressed the angry looking unsent. "Are you going to cast mental break?"

Auron hmphed, "**Mental Break!**" he ran towards the large Machina and did some complicated sword slashes.

"Let's take this thing apart!" Rikku cried readying herself to cast holy.

Lulu gave her typical stoic face, and stepped back to let the others have a go. She had been the one along with Xander to take on most of the fiends in the calm lands. She looked towards Yuna, the girl was being rather quiet… it worried her.

"**Holy!**" Rikku cried a second after Tidus used his quick hit attack.

Kimahri was standing beside Yuna. "Kimahri worried."

"All will be alright Kimah-" Xander paused remembering what happened at Gagazet. "I'll make sure everything goes well." He whispered.

Wakka switched places with Tidus, and the blond boy-wonder walked over to them. "We can handle anything! Right Yuna?"

The brunette half Al Bhed smiled slightly, "I hope you're right…"

"He is." Xander whispered to himself, "I'll make sure he is."

* * *

Akail smiled, Besaid was such a cute town… very small; although everything was small by his standards. He was American after all. He grew up in a place where the people strive to be better than everyone else. It was nice being in Spira, other than that pesky Sin and the random evil guys, it was peaceful.

"This is the temple." His read headed companion spoke.

"Thank you Luzzu."

"It was nice to help. I wish you the best Summoner Commander."

"Please- Akail. Call me Akail."

Luzzu smiled. "May Yevon be with you." He preformed the prayer.

Akail gave him a blank look, _Yevon is evil!_ "Uhm, you too?"

"Hmm," Akail mumbled. "Valefor… Here I come."

"Before you go…" Luzzu looked towards him, "You've been traveling right? What is the news with Lady Yuna? I heard a ridiculous rumor that she and her guardians were traitors of Yevon!"

Akail looked down at his feet, "I do not know the whole story… But the Maester Seymour seems to have something against the Lady Yuna. He even tried to force marriage on her."

Luzzu looked at him sharply, "Force marriage upon Yuna? Surly you're mistaken?" His look turned slightly pleading.

"I'm sorry. I was there… The Maester… he…" Akail paused and looked towards his redheaded companion. "Maester Seymour tried to kill me and my friends for no reason." Akail frowned, "The Maester is an unsent. I believe Lady Yuna is being considered a traitor because she tried to send him -but it is a summoners' duty to send the unsent…" The assassin gave the former crusader a sympathetic look. "I really must be off, I need to pray to the Fayth and then rejoin my friends in Luca. With the state Yevon is in… I fear none of us are safe."

Akail walked into the temple and greeted the temple priest, "Are the trials ahead?"

"Yes. Are you a summoner?"

Akail nodded, "Yes."

"Where are your guardians?"

Akail shook his head sadly. "I do not have any guardians." He shrugged and headed up the stairs leaving the priest gawking at him.

* * *

The dark haired mage sighed, her friend was sometimes too protective… but Nysa had always been like that. Batalax sighed again, now she was worried about Tara too. "Oh well, nothing I can do about it." She pulled out her hat and plopped it on her head. "It's Aeon time!"

The mage ran down the small road, but she stopped suddenly when the temple came into view. "Djose temple is freaking awesome!" the rocks floated around the temple in all their electrically charged goodness. "I wonder what Ixion looks like?" she mumbled slowly walking towards the large temple.

"Hello." She addressed the temple priest. "Are the cloister of trials through those doors?" she pointed to the doors at the top of the stairs quizzically.

"Yes." The priest walked towards her, "I take it you are a summoner?"

Batalax nodded, why _did these people always have to state the obvious?_

_

* * *

_

Cold.

Tara shivered; she was curled up in a small alcove knee deep in water, "now what?" she wondered aloud.

"Tar-_raaaa?"  
_  
The blond sat up straighter, well as much as she could when curled in such a small space. "Nysa?" She cried her voice shaking due to her chattering teeth.

"I'm here!" Nysa shouted, "Where are you!"

Tara smiled through her shivering, "I'm down here… the bridge collapsed. I'm stuck!"

"Hold on a second, I'm coming down!" Nysa backed up and then ran forward and jumped off the broken bridge; she landed with a large splash. Resurfacing she looked around the cold water, "Where are you Tara?"

"I'm over here! Follow my voice!"

Nysa started to swim in her direction, "I'm coming!"

Nysa finally found her, she grimaced at the sight of her friend, she looked pretty beat up.

"I can't move… My leg is trapped."

"Hold on a second," Nysa whispered giving the shivering girl a half hug. "I'll be right back; I'm going to see if I can dislodge the pieces of the broken bridge. As soon as you feel them start to move, start trying to pull your leg out, okay?"

Tara nodded, "Be careful Nysa, there are fiends in the water."

Nysa smiled. "Got it." And then she completely disappeared under the water.

* * *

"Damn it!" Batalax cursed. The trials of the Djose temple were confusing her. She had tried almost every sphere combination and still; nothing. "Well, this one's been super charged by me moving the pillar it was in under the electric-ness created by that one sphere…" she mumbled while examining an empty sphere recess. "Well… If I put the super charged one in this recess it opens the door…" she paused in her musings, "but then what? How do I get across the electric mess of wires to get the sphere over there…?"

"Wait!" she cried to herself, "What if I put the two spheres left over into the recesses on the pillar and push it into the electrical mess?" she excitedly ran back through the trials to the room with the two spheres, she grabbed them and ran back to the pillar. "Okay, so now I just put them in, push the pillar off the edge, and hope for the best?" she sounded unsure, but went along with her plan anyway.

"Yea! It worked!" Batalax cheered and readied herself to jump onto the floating pillar. From there the rest of the trials were easy, thus fifteen minutes later the mage stood outside the chamber of Fayth. "Well, It's now or never…" She whispered before entering Ixions chamber.

"**Hello Emily."  
**  
"Hello Ixion." She replied with a smile on her face. "I'll do my best to help save you and the other Fayths…" She looked the Fayth in the eye solemnly. "I promise."

The Fayth of Ixion smiled at her, **"You are such a delightful Summoner,"  
**  
Batalax grinned, "Delightful? Really?"

Ixion gave her a bracing look, and walked into her. Batalax smiled through her yawn, "I think I'll just take a little….nap."

* * *

"Finally!" Skye cried out in relief. The temple stairs were finally in view, _but gods there are too many stairs!_ The assassin smiled back at her stalker monkeys, "Bye guys! Thanks for the company…"

The monkeys just blinked and scampered away.

"Well, here goes nothing!" Skye mumbled starting her long trek up the Kilika Temple Stairs. "Five hundred and seven, Five hundred and eight, five hundred and nine," she continued counting the stairs as she walked up them, "Nine hundred and ninety four, Nine hundred and ninety five, Nine hundred and ninety six," _Almost there! _ "Nine hundred and ninety seven, Nine hundred and ninety eight, nine hundred and ninety nine…" Skye finally reached the top.  
"One thousand!" she cheered as she collapsed to the ground in exhaustion… it was around four in the morning after all, Skye firmly believed she had every right to be tired, thus why she pulled out her cloak, donned it, and laid down on the cold ground, asleep before she even realized that there was a room especially for weary travelers/summoners only a small walk from where she lay.

* * *

Akail yawned; the Besaid cloister of trials was _easy_. He had basically breezed through it, and now he was to obtain his Aeon Valefor. The assassin grinned and entered the Chamber of Fayth.

"**Hello Natthan."  
**  
Akail frowned; it was creepy on how these things knew so much. "Hello Valefor." He grinned at the lady Fayth cheekily, "So you up to a…..merging of sorts?" He winced and added, "In a completely un-sexual way of course. Unless of course you want it to be sexual…"

Valefor gave him an un-amused look. **"Brace yourself. Normally for your cheek I would not go with you, and the backlash of a failed summoning would kill you, but I know you are here to help us Fayths, so I'll let you off this once."** Valefor smiled at him in a way that said _'this is going to hurt you a lot more than it'll hurt me'  
_  
Akail frowned worriedly, as the Fayth ran at him and forced a merging between the two of them. He had to resist the urge to cry out, it _hurt_ ! After the merging of summoner and Aeon, Akail collapsed to the ground unconscious, his last thought before he passed out was _why didn't Nysa pass out after her second Aeon?_

_

* * *

_

Xander cheered Tidus on. The blond was trying to take on a Tonberry. Needless to say, the teen was losing. Xander sighed and decided to join in on the fun. **"Darkness!"** the spell hurt the bad guy with his life force, but it was worth it when you saw the results. Xander quickly uncorked a potion bottle and downed it in one swallow.

Kimahri quickly cast a Scan spell, the results were 2000HP out of 35000HP. Xander smirked, one more attack and this thing was dust in the wind! He readied himself for the killing blow, when a strong voice broke his concentration.

"**Doublecast. Firaga. Thundaga." **The Tonberry exploded into pireflies.

Xander frowned, "Lulu…" he wined, "I wanted to perform the killing blow!"

The black mage just smirked.

"Well Brudda, you snooze you lose ya?"

Xander sighed, Lulu and Wakka… there was so much sexual tension around the two you could cut it with a knife!

"Heeeeeeeey! I found the Telepad that'll take us to the chamber of Fayth!"

"Good job Rikku!" Tidus smiled at the happy-go-lucky blond Al Bhed, not noticing how she blushed when he addressed her. "Where's Auron?"

"He stayed at the Telepad." Rikku replied, looking anywhere but Tidus. "He's being a meany!" she added in an annoyed tone of voice.

Xander frowned. He was hoping it would have taken longer to locate Yojimbo. He needed to stall the group for two weeks… because then while the Spiran group climbed Gagazet… he and his earth friends could protect the Ronso. Not that a lot of them deserved to be protected after how they continued to treat Kimahri. Xander had become quite fond of the small blue Ronso.

Suddenly Xander grinned, the Remiem Temple! He could stall them by convincing them to go to Remiem! He even knew where the 'forgotten' temple was located as that's where he and his friends' crash landed when first brought to Spira.

"Xander? You coming?" Rikku asked while waving a hand in front of him, and by the look on her face she had been doing it for awhile.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm coming. I was just thinking."

Rikku smiled, "Don't hurt yourself!" she grinned back at him as she skipped ahead to catch up with the rest of the group.

"All have you know, I happen to be very smart!" Xander called out mock indignantly as he ran to catch up with her.

* * *

Tara winced slightly, Nysa had been underwater for far too long, and she felt helpless. "Damn it Ny… You better be okay…" suddenly the rocks holding her leg down started to shift. Tara pulled her leg out and jumped into the water fully as the alcove she had been stuck in collapsed.

The blond cheered, but quickly stopped. Nysa hadn't resurfaced. "Oh god…" she mumbled. Then, not even caring that it was_water_, Tara dove under to look for her friend. She spotted the slightly older girl unconscious, floating in the water by a small door. As air was quickly becoming an issue and they were really deep underwater, Tara pulled the door open, if she pulled her friend through the underwater hallway they would get air much quicker than if she tried to pull her all the way to the surface! She gripped Nysa's arm and started dragging the unconscious girl through the underwater tunnel.

Finally, Tara noticed a place where they could resurface. So she did. Tara pulled her friend onto the cold cement, not caring at all that it was freezing… she was too lightheaded to care. "Nysa?" she whispered hoarsely, "Nysa wake up!" she frowned at the barely breathing girl, and reached into her item bag looking for a phoenix down.

She uncorked the bottle and poured it down her friends' throat. "Come on Ny… wake up. Please wake up…"

Nysa coughed up a bunch of water and gasped for much needed air. She sat up as quickly as she could and saw her blond friend pacing worriedly in front of a large metallic door. "Tara?" she croaked, startled by the sound of her voice. "It's c-co—cold!"

Tara stopped her pacing and embraced her friend, "I thought I had lost you Tracy!"  
Nysa sat up straighter; Tara must be really worried to call her by her real name… the thief looked around, "Where are we?"

"I… I don't really know." The blond winced remembering how they had got here. "You didn't resurface after you got my leg unstuck… I waited a couple minutes…but you still didn't come back… so I dove under to look for you." She continued, ignoring Nysa's startled gasp. "You were unconscious when I found you-"

"Yeah… when I pulled at the pieces of the broken bridge… I remember something falling down and hitting me on the head…" she rubbed at her head feeling for the wound.

"Anyways," the gun-mage continued, "I pulled you through a door that was underwater…I didn't think we would make it… but I had a feeling that there was air here… and since it seemed closer than dragging you to the surface…here we are." She gestured to the cold room the sat in.

"We need to make a fire before we freeze to death…" Nysa pulled out her Organization-like cloak and laid it on the ground, she gestured for Tara to sit on it with her, "It's warmer than the stone floor…"

Tara moved over and sat on the cloak next to her best friend, "Now we just need something to burn."

"Hmm…" Nysa mumbled looking around. "Too bad we don't have Batalax's Tikki torch… That would make great kindling." She smiled at Tara.

"Well, we must have something in our items that we can burn…"

"Yea, let's do an inventory check." Nysa said, as she started pulling things out of her pouch.  
Fifteen minutes later the girls sat in front of a nice and warm fire/heater thing. They hadn't had to burn anything; putting their items together they had realized they had six fire gems. Nysa activated the fire gems and placed them in a circle around them. Tara had then set up her tent in the middle of the room and the girls climbed in and snuggled into the warm blankets.

"Mmm… toasty."

"I agree."

Tara yawned as she started to wake up. She looked at Nysa's watch; they had been asleep for ten hours! "Nysa! Wake up!"

The dark haired girl groaned and pulled the blankets further over her head. "Nnnn… Sleep more." She mumbled under her breath.

"Nysaria Croft! Wake up!" Tara shouted in her friends' ear.

"Wha?" Nysa sat up and put a hand over her pounding heart, "You scared me half to death Tara! I'm sure you just took ten years off my lifespan!" her green eyes widened suspiciously, "Why are you laughing?"

"Haha- ackm." Tara grinned hiding her laugh with a cough. "We've been asleep for ten hours… it's time to get up!"

Nysa frowned and laid back down, "Exactly. Ten hours. Hardly enough sleep. Goodnight Tara." The thief closed her eyes in an attempt to back to sleep.

Tara glared half heartedly at her friend, when she was suddenly struck with an idea. "Nysa! Wake up! The quicker I get Anima… The quicker we can go to Luca and find Moe!"

"Moe?" Nysa grinned opening an eye to look at her friend. "C'mon! Let's get going! Chop chop! She crawled out of the tent and smiled, the fire gems had done wonders, the floor was warm and she was in bare feet!

The two girls packed away the tent, and Tara placed it into her pouch. Tara then went to grab her three fire gems when Nysa cried out, "Don't touch them! It would be like placing your hand on an oven burner! It requires a special skill to handle them." Nysa walked over to the fire gems and used her Use ability to turn them off. The thief then handed the now cool gems to her friend while she pocketed her three.

Now that it was day the thief could see the room much more clearly. "Good Job Tara!" she grinned, and pointed to the metallic door. "That door leads to the chamber of Fayth!"

The two teens walked through the door, as soon as Nysa entered the six statues started to glow. "Hmmm… I guess since I know where all the destruction spheres are and since I've used them while playing the game… we don't have to do it again… which is good… I had forgotten you needed to do that before entering the chamber of Fayth here…"

"You seemed to have forgotten a lot about this place…" Tara murmured while thinking about how angry she had been when she had first realized she had to go in water to get her Aeon.

"Heh heh heh…" Nysa giggled nervously.

Tara smiled at the anxious thief and pointed to the glowing door, "Is that where I go?"

Nysa nodded and watched as her long time best friend entered the chamber, the door slammed closed behind her.

"**Hello Karina… I wasn't sure if you would come… Especially after how my son treated you."  
**  
"…Your son?" Tara inquired.

"**Yes. My son, Seymour Guado."  
**  
"Seymour is your son!" Tara cried out in shock, silently cursing Nysa for not telling her this information.

"**I do apologize… It is partially my fault that he is how he is. I was ill -Dying even. I decided to become a Fayth so I could continue to be with my son. Unfortunately… Seymour didn't see it that way. In his eyes… I was no longer his mother; I was a source of power. A source of power that was his…and his alone. He became obsessed… please stop him. He wasn't always like this. Please free my little boy."  
**  
Tara nodded solemnly. "I will do my best."

The lady Fayth Anima smiled and walked towards her newest summoner. Unlike with Bahamut, Anima didn't charge into her, she simply faded into her, like a lovers caress. Tara smiled and sat down on the glowing floor. She was_ tired._

_

* * *

_

Skye groaned, it was hot out! She opened her eyes to glare at the sun, _damn ball of light for waking me up!_ She inwardly cursed. The assassin stood up on tired legs and looked around, it had been too dark to see much of anything when she had first gotten here.

"Hmmm, so this is Kilika Temple?" she wondered out loud, it was a nice building, it looked very welcoming.

"Yes, it is."

Skye jumped in fear, her hand already reaching for her sword. "You startled me!" she accused the priest-like man. "Who are you?"

"I am the high priest of this temple." He replied. "And who might you be?"

"My name's Skye Kane." She smiled at the priest, "I am a summoner from a far away land…"

"A summoner you say?" he looked over her skeptically, which Skye could understand. She didn't exactly look like a summoner… none of her friends did; they all had the look of fighters, not Healers as was common for summoners.

She nodded. "Yes I am. Are the cloister of trials ahead?"

The high priest smiled at her and nodded. "I wish you luck, Lady Skye."

Skye smiled her thanks and entered the building. "Cloister of Trials… here I come!"

Fifteen minutes later Skye stood in front of the door leading to the cloister of trials. "Wow, that trial was easy! Way easier than the Bevelle and Macalania trials!"

"Ifrit, here I come!" She called out before entering the chamber.

"**Hello Sarah."  
**  
"Please… call me Skye. It feels too weird hearing someone use that name after so long…"

"**As you wish."** The male Aeon gave her a bemused look. **"Are you ready to obtain my summoning?"  
**  
Skye nodded and braced herself. "Let's do this thing-" she paused and preformed the Prayer. "How did I do? I've been practicing!"

The Aeon smiled at her and nodded. **"Brace yourself, tiny summoner."**

"I'm not tiny! I'm taller than both Tara and Nysa -" she was cut off by the Aeon charging into her. "Oh… ouch." She whispered before collapsing to the ground. "Wow… can we not do that again anytime soon please?" she whispered before succumbing to sleep.

* * *

Xander smiled. Auron may have saved the Ronso's lives by using his stubbornness. He had convinced the group to stock up on items and buy tons of equipment to synthesize. Thus, they had no money left to give to Yojimbo.

"I guess that means we'll be here for awhile." Xander whispered.

"I hope you do not mind Sir Xander." Yuna replied to his statement.

"No. -It's great… if anything it helps me out a lot." He smiled at the nervous summoner.

"How would this help you out?" Lulu inquired.

"I am not able to meet my friends for another week… I had been wondering what I was to do in that time, but now I know. I'll be making money!" Xander smiled at the mage… he wasn't about to mention how easy he could make the money if he wanted to. For the past week he had been working on his sphere grid steadily… and he had finally made it to the ability 'Nab Gil' thus he could easily make the money he wanted. In truth, Xander already had most of the money… He needed another nine thousand and Yojimbo was his. He inwardly cursed the overzealous Ronan Aeon… I mean what was he going to use all that money for anyways… he was _dead_ for Yevons sake!

Two days of stealing money from the fiends Xander had enough to buy Yojimbo's services, so he snuck away from the group during the night and entered the Chamber of Fayth.

"**If you want my strength, you must pay my price."  
**  
Xander smiled and pulled out the money, "Here." He tossed the money to the Aeon. Before the Aeon could merge with him, Xander pulled out another one hundred thousand Gil. "I want to make you a deal. If I give this to you now, when you go into overdrive, I want you to use your strongest attack."

The Aeon appeared to be in deep thought. **"I accept your bargain. Only as you are the one who shall set me free."** With that cryptic message the Aeon merged with him.  
Xander yawned; now all he had to do is make it back to his tent before he passed out.

* * *

The room was dark; it was night so this wasn't too much of a surprise. No, the surprise was the figure sitting in the darkened room. It was easy to see that this figure was scheming, probably planning the gruesome deaths of many people.

"I'm going to kill her. Bludgeon her head in until there is nothing left but blood splatter!" she paused and beckoned the waitress over so she could order another Mocha. "Of course before I do this I should stab her eyes out with toothpicks and force feed her coffee." The figure paused in her plotting and appeared to be thoughtful. "No….no -that's too cruel, Coffee would be over doing it."

"Excuse m-me…" A waitress whispered nervously as she walked up to the dark figure. "I –I'm closing the-the - shop n-n—now." She stuttered.

"Fine." The shadowy figure growled as she pulled up her black hood and stalked out of the room into the dark city beyond. "Yes." She whispered crossly taking another sip of her mocha. "She is definitely going to pay for this."

The waitress sighed in relief seeing as her customer had finally left. That girl had been coming to the shop for the last week, and the things she said… the young waitress winced. Yesterday that girl had been talking to herself about all the messages she could leave around the place using blood. "I pity the person she's plotting against…" the waitress whispered as she closed the shop for the night.

-

* * *

**- So now our Heroes have their summons, will they come to the aid of the Ronso in time? And who is the dark figure plotting the deaths of a certain female Hero? - - Please review!**


	8. The Birth Of The AntiYevonites

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 10 or 10-2. I also do not own any of the other random cameos that show up in this fic. However, the main characters are based off of real people… but I don't own them... I just make fun of them.**

**Chapter: Seven.**

**The birth of the anti-Yevonites!**

-

* * *

"So, were off to Luca?"

Nysa smiled and replied, "Yep!"

"Okay… But I _really_ don't want to go through the water anymore."

"I don't think we have a choice…"

Tara frowned. "Fine. Then let's make this quick. I have little to no desire to drown."

Nysa nodded. "Me neither… Let's do this." The green eyed girl glanced around the room to make sure they weren't leaving anything behind. "Okay… let's go together… that way no one gets left behind."

"Okay."

Nysa smiled and jumped into the water. "Come on the water's…well cold… but the quicker we do this the quicker it's over with."

"Okay…" Tara whispered as she too jumped into the frigid water. "Gahh, it's not cold; it's freezing!"

"Yea well, what can we do?" Nysa replied before she dove under and started to swim through the underwater hallway.

"Heeey! Wait for me!" Tara cried diving under and swimming as fast as she could towards the exit.

"Ack!" Nysa coughed, breaking the surface of the water. Tara made a similar noise when she surfaced a couple seconds later.

"Where… to… now?" Tara wheezed trying to catch her breath.

"Luca." Nysa replied as she closed her eyes trying to summon Shiva for the first time.

The beautiful Ice Aeon appeared standing on the broken bridge above them.

Tara gave her friend a quizzical look. "Why'd you summon Shiva?"

Nysa gave the blond a vague smile. "You'll see…" she replied while mentally talking to Shiva.

"_Please Shiva; I need you to create a staircase from where you're standing to where we are swimming. Use a Waterga spell and freeze it… or something." _Nysa mentally shrugged.

"_**As you wish."**_ The Ice Aeon closed her eyes and snapped her fingers. Water appeared from her hand and as she pointed a finger down towards the girls it spiraled down, freezing as it went.

Nysa blinked. "Cool."

Tara gaped in awe. "Wow…" she quickly pulled herself onto the icy steps, "Yay, no more swimming!"

Nysa smiled at her now cheerful friend and climbed the stairs after her. Once she reached the top, Nysa smiled at her Aeon and dismissed her. The staircase disappeared rapidly once the Aeon was gone. The only evidence that it had ever even been there was a slight raise in the water level.

"To Luca?" Nysa inquired.

"To Luca." Tara confirmed. "I'll summon Bahamut."

"Okay." Bahamut crash landed, "Wait just a minute… let's save it first, there's a save point over that way—" she pointed to a cement area to their left.

"Sure thing." Tara replied. _"Wait here for us Bahamut, we'll be right back."_

And so the two teens walked over to the blue swirling save point. Nysa frowned slightly, "Wait…are you telling me you didn't save it when you first got to Baaj?" She grabbed Tara's arm, "You could have _died_ !"

"Cunno…" the blond whispered as they made there way back to the Dragon.

"It's alright, but we should work on your Al Bhed so you can speak more!" Nysa smiled at Bahamut, and climbed aboard. "You're getting faster at Reading and writing it…" she exclaimed. "But… You still need to work on speaking it."

"I know." Tara smiled, "Bahamut… please take us to the outskirts of Luca."

* * *

"Hey, Nysa…Wake up. We're here!"

"Nnnn…Wha?"

"We're here." Tara repeated.

"oh…Oh!" Nysa grinned. "Let's go find Moe!"

"Tara! Nysa!" A voice called from down the highroad.

Both girls turned and tried to see if they could locate the owner of the voice. It was Batalax!

"Hiya!" She called out as she cast Haste on herself and ran towards them.

"Hey B!"

"Hia Batalax!"

"You guys just get here?" Batalax inquired.

"Yea. Tara dismissed Bahamut right before you called out to us." Nysa frowned slightly, "Why are you…bouncing?"

Tara grinned. "You cast Haste on yourself again…didn't you?"

Batalax gave her two friends a sheepish look. "I swear it's like taking Speed!" She paused. "Not that I would know…as I've never taken Speed."

"Unlike a certain thief who is standing beside me." Tara added.

Nysa gave the two girls an offended look. "Okay… one, it was prescription. And two, I prefer the term 'Treasure Huntress' …the term thief is so…vulgar." She grinned.

"Pfft, Ritalin is still Speed….even if it was prescription." Batalax grinned, "I remember one day you held the bottle and cried out _my precious_. It was scary."

"I remember that!" Tara exclaimed while Nysa groaned.

"Is it pick on Nysa day or something?" the thief grumbled.

"Of course."

"Be glad Mr. Tikki isn't picking on you too!"

"Ugh… yea." Nysa looked around as an awkward silence filled the area.

"Let's go to Luca!" Batalax exclaimed.

"Yea, lets."

Nysa smiled and led the way down the stairs into the city. "Wow… it's, a lot bigger than it was in the game…"

"How are we supposed to locate Moe in this huge city?"

Nysa sighed. "I don't know. I really just don't know."

"Wait…" Batalax frowned. "Moe is here? Since when?"

"Remember when Bahamut gave us all something from earth? Well, he said the thing he brought me didn't want to come and that it had escaped in Luca."

"Oh." Batalax seemed in deep thought. "But how do you know it's Moe?"

Nysa and Tara blinked in confusion. "We just assumed…"

"Oh. Okay then." The mage smiled. "Let's go on a Moe Hunt!"

"Yea!" Nysa replied enthusiastically. "Too bad we can't tape it though…" she paused and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear, "Unless…" she started before grinning. "Come on! I have an idea!" She ran off into the city with the two befuddled girls following behind.

Nysa ran up towards one of the many Al Bhed's that was wandering around the city trying to be inconspicuous. "Reoy! lyh oui damm sa frana dra Cbana Draydan ec?"

The Al Bhed man blinked in surprise, it was rare to find a non-Al Bhed speaking the Al Bhed language. As he was too shocked to speak the child beside him spoke for him. "The sphere theater is that way," He pointed towards a staircase. "You go down those stairs, make sure the Coffee shop is directly to your right and then walk strait. Eventually you'll come to a fountain, turn right, and then walk until you see a large building. You can't miss it."  
Batalax smiled. Finally an Al Bhed that spoke English! "What are you working on?" she addressed the child.

The boy looked up at her surprised, "I'm building a Communication device, so it's possible to contact people even if they're all the way across Spira!"

Tara looked interested, "Really? How did you come up with the idea for them?"

The boy shrugged in nonchalance. "I'm just a kid."

Nysa grinned. She knew she had recognized this kid! "Hey, when you're done them… do you think we could buy some off of you?"

The kid nodded. "For Five thousand Gil… I'll give you three right now."

Tara shared a look with her companions to see what they thought of this. Both girls nodded, so she smiled at the kid. "We'll take them!" she handed the kid the money and he in turn handed them their new communicators. The Com device was like a small fashionable headset with a retractable microphone.

The three girls equipped their new toys and smiled at the boy. "Let's get going to the sphere theater thing before we forget the directions." Nysa exclaimed.

"Yea, lets." Batalax confirmed before shaking her head and laughing. She turned back to the kid, "How do the communicators work?"

The boy grinned, "You press the small green button and clearly say your name and the Com will save it, so when someone else with a Com says your name while pressing the yellow button, they can talk to you."

The mage smiled down at the kid. "Here goes…" she pressed the green button and spoke, "Batalax." The green button turned into a purple dot.

Nysa smiled and pressed the green button on hers, she clearly spoke the word "Nysa." The green button turned into a green dot. Nysa gave the kid a confused look. "Why did they turn two different colors?"

"They turn into the color of the users aura." He replied proudly.

Tara smiled, "I wonder what color my aura is?" she pressed the green button and spoke, "Tara." The green button turned into a red dot. Tara smirked, "Cool."

The three girls thanked the kid and started to walk away in the direction he had told them to go.  
Nysa smiled at her friends and told them she would catch up; she had just had a great idea. She turned back to face the kid. "Here," she whispered as she gave him the rest of her Gil, making sure her friends didn't see.

The kid's face brightened, "What's this for?" he asked staring at the large amount of money in awe.

"Consider it… funding." Nysa smiled. "Keep up the good work Shinra." And with that she skipped happily away to catch up with her friends. Unfortunately, Nysa turned left instead of right, and was now horribly lost. "Vilg!" she cursed under her breath.

"Nysa? I've been looking for you… did you just get into town? I had thought you would have been the first to get to Luca… what's up?"

The _treasure huntress_ smiled as she recognized the voice. "Hey Akail!" she looked around, "Is Skye with you?"

He frowned. "Is she supposed to be?"

"Nah, I just thought since you guys left together that maybe you would come back together as well." She shrugged slightly. "There sure are a lot of people in this city… I feel almost as if we're back on Earth…except for the complete lack of electricity, vehicles, cell phones, roads made for things other than walking…" she grinned, "I could go on and on…"

"Yeah…I could too. But you didn't name the main thing I find different." He paused and looked at the sky, "The air is cleaner… by a lot."

Nysa nodded distractedly. "Hey… have you seen Tara or Batalax today?"

Akail frowned. "No…are they here?"

"Yea… and we got separated-" she started laughing due to her stupidity. She reached up to her earpiece and pressed the yellow button and speaking the name "Tara"

"_Huh? What's that noise?"_

"…It's me."

"_Nysa?"_

"Yep."

"_Where are you?"_

"I took a wrong turn. Where are you guys?"

"_We're at the sphere theater…waiting for you!"_

"Uhm… oops?"

"_Why don't you backtrack till you get to the coffee shop?"_

"Okay. I'll meet you there."

"_Okay… we'll get there as soon as we can. Batalax and I are currently waiting in line at the Sphere Theater. How many recording spheres should we buy?"  
_  
"Well, how about twelve. That way all six of us will get two."

"_Okay. Well it's my turn now…so… Over and out._

Nysa smiled as the line went off and a dial tone was heard. She pressed the yellow button to finish the call.

Akail frowned, had Nysa lost her mind? "Uhhh… Why were you talking to your self?"

Nysa burst into laughter, "I wasn't talking to myself! I was talking to Tara through this-" she pointed at her Com device.

"Oh, I want one!"

"You'll have to talk to Shinra. He's this genius Al Bhed Whiz Kid. He created them. In Final Fantasy Ten-Two… he is the one to create Dresspheres."

"Cool. So where are we going?"

"Coffee shop." She replied spinning on her heal so she was facing the opposite direction she had been walking in. "It's this way." She said as she started walking towards her destination.

"Okay." He replied as he followed her.

* * *

"Where now?"

"Uhm…" Nysa stopped and looked around. The two teens were standing at the fountain she had passed earlier. "Okay. So I turned left… so that means to backtrack…we need to turn right!" Happy with this idea she turned right and started walking again.

Akail sighed and followed once more.

"So this is our meeting place, let's go in!" Nysa smiled and entered the coffee shop.

A blond waitress walked up to the two teens, "Hello…I'm sorry, but we only have one table left."

Akail shrugged, "It's fine. We're here together anyways; we're meeting some friends here in a while."

The waitress sighed and inwardly cursed. She didn't want anyone to sit by that cynical customer she couldn't seem to get rid of… it was bad for business. She sighed despairingly and led the two teens over to the only empty table left in the establishment.

"Thank you," Nysa mumbled before turning back to Akail, "Is it just me or do you get the feeling she was nervous about something?"

"Definitely nervous."

"With every reason to be." The Lady in the booth next to them growled as she stood up.  
Nysa turned to look at the lady and gasped in shock. She stood up and walked so she was standing at the lady's table. "What…what are you doing here?" she whispered.

Obviously this was the wrong thing to say. The lady leaped over the table and knocked Nysa to the floor, holding the thief in a choke hold. "This is all your fault!" she growled.

Akail had stood and was watching to see if he could find an opening to help his friend.

* * *

Skye smiled, Luca was such a pretty city. Then again, anything would be considered great by her standards… as long as she was out of Crazy-Ville. Kilika was definitely the town of the crazies.

"Oy! Batalax! Tara! Over here!" she called out spotting her friends.

The two girls turned and smiled, "Hey Skye!"

"You just get into town?"

Skye shook her head no. "I've been here for the last two days, what about you guys?"

"We just got here today. We're on our way to the coffee shop. We're meeting Nysa there."

Batalax smiled, "I know! Why don't you come with us!"

Skye gave the mage a strange look, "Uh… I was planning on it… as we're all meeting here… together."

Tara smiled at her two friends, "Come on, Nysa's been waiting for awhile… we kind of got…held up." She looked around discretely.

"Yea… we're fugitives from the law!" Batalax grinned proudly.

"Shhh!" Tara cried clamping a hand over B's mouth. A couple of the city dwellers were looking at them with undisguised interest. Tara smiled embarrassedly. "She was…infected by Sin's toxin."

"Come on; let's get into the Coffee Shop." Skye whispered dragging the two 'fugitives' through the doors of the store.

Tara blinked.

Batalax tilted her head in confusion.

Skye laughed.

Nysa was being strangled by someone wearing a dark cloak. Skye realized that this shouldn't be funny, but she couldn't help herself. It was hilarious. Akail was standing around awkwardly holding a chocolate mocha.

"Uhh…should we do something?" Batalax asked. "I could cast a flare spell-"

"No!" Skye and Tara cried out at the same time knowing how destructive a flare spell was.

"Come on!" Tara whispered walking closer with her two friends following close behind.

* * *

"Wow… Déjà vu…" Nysa's attacker whispered as Nysa was starting to turn blue from lack of air. She suddenly let go and backed up as if she had been burned. "Oops?"

Nysa glared and sat up rubbing her throat. "Nice to see you too…" she growled sarcastically.  
"I'm sorry!" the lady called, helping Nysa to her feet. "Well…I'm not really sorry, but it seemed like the right thing to say."

Nysa grabbed a potion from her items pouch and mixed it with an echo screen. She finished it in one swallow, and stopped rubbing her throat. She looked over as Akail and saw his incredulous look. "Erm… Hey Akail…" she looked between the lady and her friend. "I'd like you to meet Rebecca." She paused, "…My older sister."

* * *

"I'd like you to meet Rebecca… My older sister."

The three girls gasped and hurried their pace. "Becca!" Tara called. "How did you get here?"

The older lady Rebecca, sighed. "I blame her." She pointed at the sheepish looking Nysa.

"Actually…" Akail mumbled. "It's not Nysa's fault. It's hers-" everyone pointed at Batalax.

"Nysa?" Rebecca asked, confused.

"Yea… It's my name." the green eyed girl frowned, "Bahamut made us change our names." She paused and looked around, "Maybe we should take this talk somewhere less crowded."

"That may be a good idea." Rebecca replied.

"May be? Pfft. It _is_ a good idea… No _may be_ about it!"

Tara smiled as the two sisters easily started their old bantering.

"… and if you had to send me somewhere… why couldn't it be Invalice? Then I could have at least run around shouting "Baush Lives!"

"Be glad I didn't send you to Midgar!"

"…I would have _preferred _Midgar!"

"You wouldn't be saying that if Sephiroth ran you through with his sword!"

"He wouldn't do that! I'd _join_ Sephiroth! I'd go up to him and say '_I like your idea of turning the planet into a space ship… I too like your mother am not from this planet'." _ Bob grinned, "Maybe then I could be like Doctor House and have my own minions?"

"Suuuuure you would" Nysa exclaimed sarcastically, "And no minions for you!" she grinned. "And anyway… there is _nothing_ wrong with Spira!"

"Except for _everything _! The voice actors are bad, the main character is a whiny brat, the entire place is corrupted by religion, there's a large scaly fish hell bent on world destruction- need I continue?"

Nysa stopped walking causing Tara to walk into her, "Sin is a fish? I want to go home!"

Akail gave Batalax, Skye and Tara a befuddled look. Tara mouthed the words 'fish fear' to him. Akail nodded solemnly.

"Even I knew that Sin was a fish. How did you not know, you're obsessed with this game!"  
"Well, Sin can fly!" Nysa exclaimed as if it explained everything. To her, it did.

"Well, maybe in this place fish can fly!"

Nysa dropped to the ground and covered her ears. "Don't say that!"

* * *

Skye looked around, the group had made there way back to the Mi'ihen Highroad. "Okay guys, It's secluded enough here for us to talk."

Nysa nodded cheerfully trying to forget all mentions of the word 'fish'. "Okay, here's the sitch. The Fayths are not happy with how the game ended, because it ended up with them being possessed by Yevon and then killed. When that happened they were sent to the Farplane… but as they were possessed when they were killed, they don't get to rest…and that was their only wish. So Bahamut brought in the six of us, well, seven if we count you. And now we have to save the world." She exclaimed dramatically.

"…Riiiiight." Rebecca gave them all a doubtful look, "what does this have to do with names?"

"Well, Nysa said it has something to do with the fact that if she played the game she would have recognized our names… but I'm not to sure about that as by being here we've changed quite a few things… so she would have recognized us anyway. But, as Bahamut told us to change our names… we did." She paused and smiled at Rebecca. "I'm now known as Tara Adara."

"I'm now Nysaria Dessert-croft." Nysa smiled at her sister. "This is Commander Akail." She gestured to Akail. "You've heard me mention him before… you know my internet friend Natthan? Well this is him." She grinned, "We don't call him commander though, we call him Akail."

"My new name is Ophelia Batalax. And this is Mr. Tikki." The mage gestured to her weapon. "Oh, and call me Batalax."

"And I'm Skye Kane." The assassin cut in. She had been friends with Nysa since she was five years old, but she had always felt uncomfortable around her older sister.

Rebecca looked around, "Where are we?"

"The Mi'ihen Highroad." Nysa replied.

"We need to get you a new name!" Batalax exclaimed.

"I don't need a new name!" Rebecca replied, trying to hide her horrified look from Batalax. She did not want someone who goes by the name _Batalax _to name her. "I am Bob." She exclaimed with much flourish.

"Bob Croft." Skye smiled, "I like it!"

"Why Croft?" Akail asked Skye.

"Well, she's Nysa's sister…and Nysa's last name is Croft… so as they are family, Rebecca… err- Bob… and Nysa would have the same last name."

"Do you want to come with us Bob?"

Bob gave her sister an incredulous look, "You're kidding right? Why would I want to help you save this world? I _hate_ this game!"

Nysa sighed. "Do you want to start your own coffee shop?"

"Sure."

"Okay then, we'll drop you off at Rins."

Bob shrugged. "As long as I don't have to meet Tidus in person…" she paused with a maniacal look in her eyes, "I may not be able to stop my homicidal urges."

Tara grinned awkwardly, "Sooo… To Rins?"

"Yea." Nysa smiled, "Three groups, two to a group."

"Let's go."

Nysa, Batalax and Tara closed their eyes to summon Bahamut. Three Dragons appeared flying above them looking for a place to land. Nysa gestured for hers to land first. "Bob?" Nysa gestured for her sister to climb aboard the Dragon.

"I must be crazy…" the redhead murmured before climbing onto Bahamut.

"I'll lead the way," Nysa told the other four as she beckoned Bahamut into the air.  
Tara and Akail climbed onto Tara's Dragon shortly after the sisters had taken off. They flew into the air and sped up to catch up. Batalax and Skye followed, with Skye screaming about how she didn't want to die. "Let me drive!" the assassin cried while holding on for her life. Batalax's flying skills were far worse than her driving skills… and that was saying a lot.

* * *

Tara frowned and looked at Akail. "Don't you feel like we're…forgetting something… or someone?"

Akail cursed. And at the same time as Tara cried out "Shit! Xander!"

Tara reached up to her Com device and pressed down the yellow button, clearly saying the names "Nysa. Batalax."

"We've got a problem!"

"_What?"  
_  
"_We do?"  
_  
"We forgot Xander!"

"_Vilg!"  
_  
"_Oh no!"  
_  
"Yea… we didn't even think about it!

"_Oops?"  
_  
"_After we drop Bob off… can't we go looking for him?"  
_  
"Yeah, I guess. I just can't believe we forgot him!"

"_I believe it. Remember that one day at school? I hadn't even realized he wasn't at school till I was on the bus going home looking at the pictures I had taken that day."  
_  
"_Haha, Skye says she remembers that."_

"She's listening in?"

"_Nah, I'm just telling her what you guys are saying."  
_  
"_Bob's looking at me as if I'm crazy."  
_  
"You _are _crazy. Akail thinks you are too!"

"_Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, we're close to the Thunder Plains! YaHOOO!"  
_  
"_Batalax! Noooo!"_

_

* * *

_

Xander cursed loudly. The Spiran group had managed to get money quicker than he had hoped. There was still three days until his friends would start looking for him. The Spiran group had just started climbing Gagazet… that meant Seymour would be here soon… and Xander knew he stood no chance fighting the blue haired unsent by himself. The man was able to kill all the Ronso easily. He would just be like a bug that was to be squished.

Speaking of blue haired unsents, Seymour had just walked into the clearing. Xander inwardly cursed. "Lord Seymour, to what do I owe the pleasure?" He spat the word pleasure out like a curse.

"Sir Xander." The Maester glanced around, "Where is your summoner?"

"Right here." Xander growled pointing to himself. "And I will not let you harm my friends. I truly wish Yuna had finished sending you, your filth is stinking up the clean air." Xander knew he was pushing it, but people made mistakes when they were mad…and Seymour looked furious.

Seymour cast a flare at Xander, but he was ready, he had cast reflect, shell, and immunity to all four elements on himself. The flare spell bounced back.

Seymour growled audibly and cast Zombie at Xander. The warrior cursed, he had forgotten about Seymour's zombie fascination. Seymour started to cast a life spell, but Xander drank some holy water so it wouldn't harm him.

Seymour looked up towards the mountain peeks, "I guess I'll let my men handle you. I have things to do, people to kill."

"-Is that so?"

Seymour looked up and gasped. Xander smirked, "Looks like the Cavalry has arrived."

Xander's friends landed. The six of them stood as a united force.

"Summon." Nysa whispered closing her eyes briefly. The other five followed her example and in the blink of an eye, Seymour was surrounded. Six earthlings, Six Dragons, Shiva, Ifrit, Ixion, Anima, Yojimbo, Valefor, and all the Ronso.

Akail cast a scan spell at Seymour. "9999999_HP_ and 9999_MP._"

"Well damn."

"Overdrives, Now!"

The twelve Aeons combined their overdrives, creating an explosion that threw the six earthlings back twenty feet to land unconscious in the snow.

The Ronso stepped forward to protect the earthlings. One of the elder Ronso's cast a scan spell at Seymour; the results were "10000_HP_ and 9999_MP_"

"Arrgg," Nysa groaned as she attempted to sit up, "Wha—happ'ned?" she looked around and saw that Seymour was still conscious, although her friends were all unconscious. "Vilg." The Aeons vanished; they could only be in being while the summoner was conscious. Nysa stood on shaking legs and walked towards Seymour trying not to slip on the icy ground. "Why can't you just stay dead?" she gripped her daggers tightly. "I've wanted to do this for years." She whispered before she struck. She put so much energy into her attack that her blades were glowing with power. Seymour cast a Curaga spell right before she struck, so although her hit took 99999HP he was still left with 30000HP.

Seymour retaliated with a strike that sent Nysa reeling in pain. Her HP was no match for what damage his attacks could do. Nysa closed her eyes inwardly gathering power. If he was going to kill her, by gods she was going to take him with her.

"**Doublecast Ultima!**"

Nysa looked up, Batalax was awake. Her attack took 20000HP away from Seymour. Nysa smiled at her friend, "Thanks B…I'm going to wake the rest of the group up, and be careful B …he's strong. Really strong."

Nysa ran to her other four friends and quickly administered them phoenix downs. The thief glanced back to Batalax; she hadn't managed to get another attack on Seymour… "Vilg!" She looked to the rest of the group, "Let's do this thing."

The five walked to meet Batalax, they all gripped hands and faced Seymour, and it looked like he had actually backed up a step… that was good; really good. It meant he was afraid. He should be.

"Every story had an ending Seymour." Nysa growled.

"This is yours." Xander finished.

Seymour smiled wickedly. "Is that so… Traitors of Yevon?"

"Yeah, it is. We're not Yevonites. In fact I hadn't even heard of Yevon up until two months ago." Tara growled.

"Yea, so how can we be Traitors of Yevon when we are not Yevonites?" Akail added.

"You think we fear you? We have seen seven different kinds of Sin –why the hell would we fear _you_." Skye exclaimed.

"My driving skills inspire more fear than you do!" Batalax taunted proudly.

"I don't like you." Akail whispered cynically.

Nysa glanced around, it looked like a full blown war, the Ronso were fighting with the Yevonites everywhere she looked, and it looked like they were winning. "Any last words Seymour?"

"Yes…. **Flare!**"

It wasn't aimed at them… it was aimed at the Ronso! "Noooo!" Nysa cried, "**Doublecast Blizzaga!**" The flare spell was stopped. "Okay. This ends now!"

The six gripped hands once again, and started gathering power. As night was falling you could clearly see the six were glowing with power.

"What are you doing?" Seymour growled because he didn't recognize the spell.

Tara and Nysa grinned sadistically, "a little something we cooked up just for you."

Akail reached into his bag and pressed play on his iPod, it started playing the song "the end to every story" by Xandria. It was strangely fitting, even as Akail looked at his iPod with a bewildered expression on his face.

As one, the group released the energy they had been building; Seymour barely had the chance to blink before he was dead… again.

Yuna and her party had appeared to see the final attack. Even Lulu and Auron looked amazed.  
Rikku looked amazed for a different reason, they had a Machina that made music… she was Al Bhed and yet she had never heard of such a thing.

"Lady Yuna?" Nysa whispered as she looked up from the man they had just killed, "What are you doing here?"

"We heard an explosion…" Wakka mumbled looking around at the destruction.

"More like felt it!" Rikku cut in.

"Yeah…" Xander started.

"That was us." Akail finished.

"Seymour was after you guys, he planned on killing all the Ronso and ambushing you on the cliff right before the Wall of the Fayth." Nysa whispered.

"No time to talk. We must send him while he's still down!"

Yuna nodded and started to dance the sending. Tara, Nysa, Batalax, and Skye joined in. Seymour was starting to fade into pireflies when he suddenly opened his eyes and disappeared.

"Vilg! E ryda res!" Nysa cursed in Al Bhed.

Rikku gave Nysa an inquisitive look, "You know Al Bhed?"

Nysa nodded, "Tara does too."

"We need to get out of here!" Akail suddenly exclaimed.

"You're right… Seymour's going to be after you all now… he saw the power you all have. He will stop at nothing to get that power." Auron proclaimed.

"Not to mention we're already fugitives for using forbidden Machina." Tara whispered.

"Yea…" Nysa whispered. "Wait- we're what!"

"Oh yea… we forgot to mention that…" Batalax smiled sheepishly.

"Batalax and I were caught using our Com spheres back in Luca… we forgot to mention it with all the excitement of your sister showing up."

Xander looked up startled, "Your sister's here?"

"Yeah, she was a gift from the Fayth."

"Gift from the Fayth?" Lulu asked.

"Yeah…" Nysa looked around at her friends, "I think we should tell them the truth."

Five reluctant nods followed her statement. "Okay… We need to find somewhere private to talk."

"Kimahri knows place." The Ronso exclaimed.

The two groups followed the Ronso as he walked up Gagazet leaving the war zone behind.

* * *

Bob sighed, she was annoyed. Nysa had dropped her off and said she had to go do something and that she would see her later, well Rin wasn't even at the place Nysa had left her. And now she was stuck, without a weapon.

"**Hello,"  
**  
Bob gasped, "You!" she glared, "You're the one who brought me here! Send me home!"  
"**I'm sorry..."  
**  
"You don't sound very sorry…" Bob growled.  
The Fayth looked at her. **"Do you want me to equip you wish what you will need for your journey?"  
**  
"I don't want to go on a journey! …Well, okay." She looked towards the Fayth, "Equip me."  
The Fayth smiled and nodded.

Bob smiled at the Fayth; he had given her a Zat Gun! Now if only she had a Stargate…"

* * *

"Oh Snap!" Skye exclaimed as she walked by a downed Yevonite, he had a crossbow and well, "You wont be needing this anymore…" she whispered as she looted the unconscious man.

"Skye…" Tara said remorsefully, "It's rude to loot dead people…"

Skye shrugged, "He's not dead yet."

Tara smiled, "Okay then… but we should catch up… they walk too fast."

Yevonites were all over the mountain hoping to ambush the Earth group, it was starting to annoy both groups, but on the plus side of things, Yevon no longer seemed to be after Yuna and her party. One Yevonite had actually called out for the earth group to let Yuna and her party go free. Auron finished that guy -he seemed to take it personally that people thought Yuna and her guardians were being controlled by a group of teens. Both groups were quiet as they made the trek up the mountain.

"Are we going to Fayth Scar?"

Kimahri nodded.

"Gods it's cold!" Skye exclaimed suddenly, she had her black cloak over her revealing outfit, but she was still freezing. She looked towards Rikku who was wearing almost as little as her, "How do you manage to not freeze to death?"

Rikku smiled and reached into her pocket, "Fire gems." She said showing Skye the glowing gem. "Keeps me nice and toasty."

"Hmmm…" Skye murmured, she just had a great idea.

"Fiends!" Wakka called out from his place at the front of the group with Kimahri.

"Booya!" Batalax cried as she ran to the frontline.

"You're fighting again?" Akail whispered incredulously.

"Damn Skippy!" The mage replied.

"How is she still full of energy?" Tara asked while watching the mage bounce around -"Wait… did she cast Haste on herself again?"

"Busted." The mage whispered.

The earth group looked dead on their feet, they had put a lot of power into that last attack… and yet Batalax was still as hyped up as always.

Once the small fiend battle was over the group started to climb the cliff in order to get to the location Kimahri was leading them to. "Almost there." The Ronso said shortly.

The group finally made it to their location, Nysa gestured for everyone to sit. "Rikku, can you place these around the entrance to the room were in?" she handed her fellow thief a couple charm bangles.

"Sure." Rikku replied. Fiend repel charms were expensive; Rikku wondered where Nysa had gotten them. She finished placing them around the doorway and walked to join her friends. "Okay, so what is it you want to tell us?"

Nysa looked around the room, meeting the eyes of everyone present. "I think I'll start by saying…" she paused and looked at her friends, "We lied about who we are, and my name isn't really Nysa." She looked towards Yuna to gauge her reaction and sighed. The summoner looked slightly betrayed.

-

* * *

**- Please review!**


	9. Not Exactly From Around Here

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 10 or 10-2. I also do not own any of the other random cameos that show up in this fic. However, the main characters are based off of real people… but I don't own them... I just make fun of them.

**AN/ Someone mentioned that it was unrealistic for the group to have learned things like Flare and Doublecast so quickly. It's honestly not that unrealistic if you're as obsessed with gaining levels as I am. When I played the game… Lulu had flare before operation Mi'ihen. **

Chapter: Eight.

**Not exactly from around here!**

-

-

-

-

-

Tara sighed, "You really don't do subtle do you?"

Nysa smiled sheepishly, "Well, I didn't see you speaking up anytime soon!"

"Guys, get back to the explanations, the Spiran group looks kind of confused."

"Right." The two girls said in unison.

"You aren't real people."

Nysa glared at Batalax, "that's as mean as when Namine' told Roxas he wasn't supposed to exist!" She looked towards the Spiran group ignoring the confused look Batalax was giving her. "You _are_ real people…here…"

"Just not where we come from." Tara added while inwardly smiling, she had been the only one to understand Nysa's 'Roxas and Namine' comment.

"I'm not really a seer, Xander and I have just both been on your pilgrimage…as Tidus."

The Spiran group gave them all confused and slightly wary looks, Akail frowned, "We're…really not explaining this very well are we?"

"Nope." Rikku answered cheerfully. "I think you guys were affected by Sin's Toxin a lot more than you've been letting on."

"Truthfully, we've never even come into contact with Sin." Skye frowned, "Well, we haven't come into contact with _your_ kind of Sin. Where we come from there are seven different kinds of Sin… And I've personally come into contact with _all_ seven." She said that last bit far too proudly.

"In Spira… is there a Machina that allows you to…control a character in a made up world?"

Rikku gave the group a shocked look, "How do you know of _project Simulation_!?" she took a step back and looked as if she wanted to equip her strongest attack weapon.

Xander raised an eyebrow, "What's project simulation? We were talking about video games…"

"Oh. Heh Heh Heh… What's a videogame?" Rikku glanced around nervously.

Seeing that this was a subject that Rikku _really_ didn't want to talk about, Tara smiled at her. "Video games are a….Machina invention from where we come from."

"And where would that be?" Lulu asked sardonically.

"Earth. It's a planet much, much bigger than Spira."

"We didn't lie when we told you where we were from back in Bevelle; we just didn't tell the whole truth either. Castlegar, the town where most of us come from, is about the size of Luca… and Castlegar by our standards is a _really_ small town."

Yuna looked at Nysa confusedly, "I thought only Tara and Xander were from Castlegar?"

"Technically they are… kind of. Robson and Glade are close to Castlegar, like secondary-parts of the town itself." Batalax lectured.

"You said your name wasn't really Nysa? What is your name then?" Tidus asked.

The dark haired thief blinked, she had forgotten she had told them that. "Tracy." She replied, "My name is Tracy."

"None of us gave our actual names, Bahamut told us not to… but if you guys promise not to tell anyone or use our names when talking to us, I guess I don't see the harm in telling you." Tara smiled, "My name is actually Karina."

"I'm Emily!" Batalax grinned spinning her Tikki around.

"Sarah." The assassin stated, "Although most everyone calls me Sarii."

Akail smiled, "My name is actually Natthan."

"And I'm actually named Jarrod." Xander finished.

"Kimahri think those names strange."

"Kimahri!" Yuna gasped giving the earth group an embarrassed look. "I think they are nice names…if not a little unique."

Skye and Batalax shared a look; _they think our names are unique?!_

So what's this about us not being real?" Tidus asked while thinking about what the Fayth had told him about him not being real.

"On Earth… there is a video game called Final Fantasy Ten. It's about a teen named Tidus, who gets taken from his home Zanarkand and brought to Spira. He then meets up with some Al Bhed on a salvage ship, but Sin, the being that brought him to Spira attacks and he is thrown overboard where he then later washes ashore at Besaid where he meets Wakka-----"

"---Nysa! They don't need an outline of the game… they are the game…they already know what happened!"

"Riiiight, forgot about that." Nysa smiled sheepishly, "basically in the game lot's of stuff happened, but the Fayth weren't happy with how it ended…so they sent the six of us to fix things. --- Well seven if you count my sister."

Auron, from his place at the back of the icy cave gave the group a calculating look, if what they were saying was true it meant that this group of teenagers had actually intruded on some of the groups most intimate and private moments. Apparently, Yuna and Tidus were having the same realization as they were both blushing. "Prove it." He growled.

Nysa nodded. She would have to be the one to prove it as she knew the most about the game; she would give an example about each one of them.

"Tidus." She addressed, "When you were in Zanarkand, you were visited by the Fayth of Bahamut." Seeing the boy's slightly shocked look, the thief continued.

"Rikku." She gestured to the blond Al Bhed, "Was the one in the Machina back at the Moonflow. The one that attempted to kidnap Yuna." Seeing that Wakka was about to say something Nysa continued.

"Wakka pushed Tidus off a cliff into the water as a _shortcut_ when he first washed ashore at Besaid." The thief stopped to take a breath.

"Kimahri lost his horn in a battle with a Ronso over ten years ago." She shot the small Ronso an apologetic look and continued.

"Yuna, on her first trip over the Moonflow fell into the water… and then jumped in two more times for fun. When Tidus was told, Kimahri admitted he was worried." She grinned at the summoners shocked look.

"Lulu…" she paused to think; Lulu was very secretive and most of the stuff she knew about her hadn't taken place yet. Nysa looked at Xander for help, her eyes pleading.

"Lulu… Well, honestly… I have no idea about anything you have done."

"Yea." Nysa replied, continuing where Xander left off. "All the things we know about you haven't happened yet."

"And last but not least; Sir Auron." The thief turned to look at the Unsent. "Are you sure you really want me to tell some of your secrets? After all, they--" she gestured to his summoner and fellow guardians, "---don't _know_ yet… About you. About the final summoning. About Jecht."

Tara didn't think it was possible, but Auron's look got even colder. The Gun-mage sighed knowingly, he was afraid Nysa was going to blurt out his secrets. "We won't tell your secrets…if you don't tell ours." She glared up at the man.

"Hmph."

"Okay, so say we believe you. Then what?" Tidus looked around expectantly.

"You continue your pilgrimage." Xander explained.

"All we ask is that you wait for us when the final battle comes."

Yuna looked at Tara and replied, "We will wait."

Akail nodded. "Be careful, Yevon is not something that is to be trusted."

"You need to be more careful that we do." Lulu pointed out. "You are on Yevons hit list. They will not stop until they get you."

"That's okay." Batalax grinned, "We got them off your trail, that's good enough."

"But you're in danger!" Yuna cried.

"Danger? I laugh in the face of danger!"

Everyone turned and looked at Nysa. Tara sighed, "I would tell you how stupid that statement is… but for you, it's true, Sooo…" She shrugged indifferently. "We should really get moving. Seymour knows we're at Gagazet, we need to go before he comes back."

"Yeah. One thing I can give the guy credit for is that he comes back stronger…every time." Xander growled slightly, "Stupid Blue haired man."

"Don't discriminate because of his hair color Xander!"

Xander gave Batalax an incredulous look. "Why not? You do."

"Sooo… Mr. Tikki wants to know where we're going." Batalax exclaimed changing the subject.

"Away." Skye replied while smiling to herself over Batalax's not so discreet subject changing skills.

Tara frowned slightly and looked over at Nysa who was talking to the Spiran group, it looked like the group was finally leaving, which was good. For some reason the group made Tara extremely nervous. "Where should we go? Where _can_ we go?"

Skye glanced over at Nysa and the Spiran group. Good, Nysa was distracting them, which meant they wouldn't overhear. "Remiem." She whispered. "No one but us knows of its existence. We can talk freely there without worry… at least until we figure out where we should go and what we need to do when we get there."

"Good idea." Tara agreed, "We can also get the Magus Sister's while we're there. But how are we going to get there? Bahamut isn't exactly small; people would see him and that would take away the whole point of it being our safe place if people knew where we were."

Akail got a thoughtful look on his face, "Well, the Calm Lands aren't too far, we could walk to Remiem couldn't we?"

"It takes days to walk across the Calm Lands," Xander frowned, "Definitely not something I want to do again. Besides, all that flat ground? We would get caught too easily."

"What about those Choco-birds?" Batalax asked, joining the conversation.

"We would move faster that way… but if anything, I think we would be even more noticeable." Tara explained.

"And they're called Chocobos."

Batalax glared at Xander, "Whatever."

Nysa waved to the Spiran group as they left the cave. _I don't know if they believe our story… but there's not much we can do about that. Hmm, I wonder what we'll do now._ The thief looked over at her friends, who were all in deep discussion. "What's the what?"

Tara explained the situation to her. Nysa sighed, "I agree that Bahamut and Chocobos are out of the question…But really, what else is there?"

"----There's me."

Nysa looked to the entrance of the cave in shock and quickly ran to embrace the newcomer. "Dana!"

"Hey! You have that nifty Teleportation thing; can you bring us all to Remiem Temple?"

"Sure," The stoner shrugged. Before the group could even blink they were standing at the entrance to Remiem Temple.

"Fuck yeah!" Xander grinned,

"Trippy wasn't it?" Dana declared indisputably.

"Why are you only just visiting now?"

"I don't dream often." Dana replied to Skye's question. "I'm glad I'm here though, I was getting worried… it's been five months since I was last got to visit."

"No it hasn't! You were here like… a month ago. We've only been here for two months."

Dana gave Skye a shocked look, "Is that what you think? You guys have been missing for a bit over six months." Dana looked at Nysa sadly, "Rebecca went missing last month."

"Rebecca's fine. She's here. She's even working on getting her own coffee shop." Tara paused and looked the twenty one year old over, "You look different. Your hairs longer now…" she smiled, "It looks good."

"What do you mean _over six months _!!? It hasn't been that long! It's been two months at most!"

Nysa frowned, "Maybe time moves differently?"

"What are we going to do? If time moves that much faster on Earth… it'll be years before we get home… I mean, if three weeks here is five months there…"

"it'll be okay…" Nysa started.

"So says you! What if Grady moves on?"

Nysa looked at her friend sadly, Grady was Skye's boyfriend. He was a good guy; Nysa could understand why her friend didn't want to lose him. "Skye… I'm sorry…"

"I could give him a message if you want…"

Skye looked at Dana, "Really? You would do that for me?"

"Yeah." Dana replied as he started to fade.

Skye told him what to say to Grady. "Anyone else want me to give a message to someone?" Dana glanced around.

"Yeah." Tara and Xander whispered simultaneously. They both gave him a message to give to their significant others.

"See you soon…" Dana smiled, "Hopefully." And then he was gone.

The group grew silent. They were back at Remiem Temple… but they couldn't stay there forever. "What are we going to do now?" Batalax looked around sadly. "I can't believe so much time has passed back home…"

Tara looked down sadly, "Do we even have a home there anymore?"

"Lets just focus on getting the Magus sisters for now. We can think of a plan later." Nysa smiled in a way she hoped was reassuring, and entered the Temple.

"Wow… it's dark."

Batalax smiled, and with barely a thought all the torches in the temple were burning brightly.

"You're getting good at that B."

"I know. I barely need to concentrate on what I'm doing, it happens naturally now."

"It's the same with me. If a spell is thrown my way, it's like I just _know_ what to do." Tara glanced around, "And it's not just me and Batalax either. I've noticed certain things this last day. Nysa---" she gestured to her green eyed friend, "Doesn't even make sound when she moves anymore, and when she steals from fiends it's like she has a _notice me not_ spell on her."

"When I attack a fiend, I instinctively know where I need to hit it in order to do the most damage."

Skye looked at Akail, "It's the same for me."

"And me." Xander added.

"Damn it!"

"What's wrong?" Tara looked at Nysa.

"I left my Charm Bangles at Gagazet!"

Everyone laughed. Nysa pouted.

"Let's get the Magus Sisters."

Tara walked over to the glowing door. "It seems to have some sort of… force field around it." She placed her hand on the force field and smiled as the force field weakened with her touch. "Guys, I have an idea. Touch the force field."

Nysa frowned but did as she was told. The force field weakened even more. "I see…" she gestured to the others to touch it. And once they all had their hands on it, the force dissipated completely. "Go team us!"

Akail grinned. "Let's do this," he entered the room with the other five following close behind. "Wow… there's three of them this time! Awesome."

Nysa laughed and did the Yevon Prayer. "We wish to obtain your Aeon."

"**We are aware."**

"**Please stand in a line."**

"**Here we go!"**

The three sisters walked towards the line of teens, and took turns joining with them. Strangely enough none of the teens passed out.

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"So what now?" Xander asked.

Skye frowned slightly, "I think we should split up."

"Again?!"

"Why don't we have two to a group?" Nysa asked continuing where Skye left off.

"But I don't want to split up! We just got back together!"

"B, I know you don't want to split up again… but we're too noticeable as a group."

"Tara's right, we are too noticeable." Akail added.

"So two to a group?" Batalax asked resignedly.

"Yeah, that would probably be safest."

"Nysa, Batalax and myself can't be in the same group. We are the ones with the Com-spheres."

Nysa looked at Akail, Skye and Xander. "Pick a number between thirty five and sixty five."

The three gave each other befuddled looks but went along with it anyway.

"Thirty six." Skye replied

"Fifty two." Xander answered with a smile.

"Sixty?" Akail replied giving Nysa a confused look.

"Okay. Skye is with me." Nysa smiled, "My number was forty two.

"Okaaaay…" Tara replied. "Akail, Xander, play a game of rock paper scissors."

The two guys looked at her as if she was crazy. Maybe she was.

"Rock. Paper. Scissors!"

Xander had his hand in the shape of a rock and Akail had his in the shape of Paper. "I win!" Akail cried out triumphantly.

"Nope. Xander won." Tara shook her head in a silent admonishment. "Rock beats _everything_." She grinned, "Xander's with me, so that leaves Akail with Batalax."

Batalax gave an evil laugh.

"Do I really have to go with her?" Akail gave the group a pleading look. "Please don't make me…"

"No! You're coming with me. And that's final!"

Akail murmured, "Kill me now…"

"I can do that." Nysa volunteered cheerfully.

"Nysa. No."

The thief pouted. "Fine. Be that way." She reached into her items pouch and pulled out her tent. "I'm going to bed now… it's been a long day. I mean just today I've been to Baaj, Mi'ihen Highroad, Luca, Macalania, Gagazet, Remiem, and I've flown over the ocean, Djose, The Moonflow, Guadosalam, The thunder plains, Macalania forest, The calm lands…" She broke off in a yawn.

"Yea… it has been a long day for us hasn't it?" Tara replied.

Akail nodded and yawned, "Let's get some sleep."

Skye and Batalax smiled and finished setting up their tent. "Goodnight guys,"

"Goodnight…"

"Night."

Nysa and Tara didn't answer, they were already asleep. "I guess it's just us now." Xander mumbled. "Let's set up our tent, no one needs to keep watch for fiends tonight as we're in the temple."

"Yeah. Good idea." Akail reached into his bag and grabbed his tent. The two teens had it set up in record time, "So I guess we're setting out as soon as we wake up?"

"Probably." Xander replied. "Goodnight Akail."

"Night Xander,"

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"Me and Xander are heading out."

"Nnnn…"

"Nysa! Wake up." The blond sighed and lightly shook her friend.

"Wha' d'you want?"

"Me and Xander are heading out." She repeated.

"Oh… Oh!" The thief sat up, "So soon?"

"It's past noon Nysa."

"Riiiight." She grinned. "I haven't got to sleep in for awhile. It's nice, you should try it sometime."

"Maybe later." The blond smiled at her friend. "Good luck on avoiding the authorities."

"You too." Nysa whispered, suddenly very awake. "Keep in touch through the Com-Sphere."

"Of course. You too." The blond smiled, "Oh, just so you know. Akail and B left about an hour ago. B said goodbye, but you were asleep so you probably don't remember."

Nysa looked thoughtful, "Did she by any chance hit me with her Tikki?"

"Yea, she did." Tara replied with a grin.

"I thought that had been a dream. B's lucky she's gone or I'd use a water gem on her!"

Tara gave a nervous laugh. "I'll be…leaving now!" She smiled slightly, "Bye!" The blond ran out of the tent. "Xander let's go! Now! Run!"

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"Why did we have to run?" Xander asked feeling slightly bewildered.

"I had to get out of there before Nysa remembered that it was _me_ who hit her with the Tikki torch."

Xander laughed, "Good thing we have Chocobos huh?"

Tara frowned; she was having troubles riding the Chocobo. "Is this what horseback riding is like?"

"No idea. Never went horseback riding before."

"Kewh!"

"That sounds so cute!"

"Chocobos _are_ cute."

"----Halt!"

Xander and Tara shared a look, the Yevonites had found them. "What do we do?"

"We ride!" Xander shouted.

Tara nodded and the two teens rode for their lives. The Yevonites were close behind shooting at them. "Oh gods we're going to die!"

"No we're not." Xander released the reigns of his chocobo and reached over to Tara. "Grab my hands!"

"What?! No! I can drive this thing just fine!"

Xander sighed exasperatedly and pulled Tara off her chocobo onto his.

"What did you do that for?!"

"Now you can return fire without worrying about driving."

Tara nodded and tuned so her back was to Xander. She started to return fire.

"We'll lose them in Macalania."

"Good idea."

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"Akail, where are we going?"

Akail smiled, "It's a secret."

The two of them were on Bahamut. But Akail wouldn't tell her where they were going. Batalax grinned. "No need. I know where we are going."

Akail gave her a skeptical look. "Sure you do."

"I do." She confirmed ignoring his sarcastic tone. "Besaid."

"What? How did you know?!"

Batalax grinned smugly. "It's the only place you've been that I haven't. You forget that I'm uber smart."

Akail sighed. "Well It's still a surprise as to why we're going there."

Batalax shrugged. "Can I drive now?"

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"So where to?"

"Bevelle." Nysa replied ignoring her friends startled gasp.

"But that's where the Maester and all the Yevonites are. You know the group of people who want us dead?"

"Exactly. No one would expect us to be right under their noses. Plus, there's someone I need to speak with."

"I really don't want to walk… but stupid Xander and Tara took the only two Chocobos."

Nysa looked thoughtful. "Let's rollerblade!"

"But the ground is dirt…"

"True, but it's also so firmly packed down it's like cement."

Skye smiled, "If you say so…"

The two girls equipped their rollerblades and started on their journey. "Skye, put your cloak on."

Skye frowned at Nysa who was reaching for her own cloak. "Okaaaay…" She donned the cloak. "Why are we wearing these?"

"Disguise."

"Oh. Good idea." The assassin tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

"Let's do this."

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Please review. Next chapter should be up soon.


	10. On The Run

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 10 or 10-2. I also do not own any of the other random cameos that show up in this fic. However, the main characters are based off of real people… but I don't own them... I just make fun of them. Oh I also do not own the brilliant Kitty cat song in this chapter.

Chapter: Nine.

**On the run!**

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Xander winced, he was examining Tara's wounds; the girl had been shot three times. "I'm out of High Potions, do you have any left?"

Tara opened her eyes blurrily, "Uh… in my bag?" she murmured.

Xander smiled reassuringly and reached into her bag. "Okay, this will sting a bit Tara…" he poured one of the potions directly onto her wounds, ignoring her hiss of pain he lifted her head into his lap and made her drink the rest. "Okay, get some rest. I think we have awhile before we need to get on the move again.

The two teens had gotten out to a bad start. The Yevonites had been after them all day, and obviously the Maester didn't care if Xander and Tara were brought in dead or alive. Xander sighed and looked around; they were deep in the Macalania forest; so deep Xander feared they were slightly lost.

He grinned proudly as he looked at his now sleeping friend; Tara was a really good shot. The blond had taken out most of the Yevonites that had been after them, but her chocobo had been shot, so it's a good thing he had pulled her onto his… even if that was the reason she had been shot three times. _I should get some sleep. We have a long day in front of us. _Xander inwardly sighed; they should have just stayed at Remiem.

"_Tara? Are you there?"_

Xander looked around, "Hello?" where was that voice coming from?

"_Xander? Is that you?"_

"Nysa?" He looked around slightly bewildered.

"_Where's Tara?"_

Xander looked around again, "She's resting. We were attacked by the Yevonites and she was shot---"

"_What!!? Is she okay? Is that why you have her com-sphere?"_

"Com-sphere? Oh!" Xander looked at the log beside where Tara was laying; she had placed her com sphere there before she went to sleep. "Right," Xander picked up the Com-sphere and put it on.

"_I repeat. Is Tara okay?!"_

"She'll be fine. She's just resting." Xander smiled, he could hear Nysa so much better now.

"_Thank goddess. Xander, put your cloak on, make sure Tara puts hers on too. It may not be the best disguise, but it's worth a shot. Also, can you do me a favor and pass the advice onto Batalax and Akail? Me and Skye are nearing Bevelle and I have this strange feeling that using Machina around there is just asking for badness."_

"We'll put the cloaks on, quit worrying. Yes I'll pass the advice onto B and Akail. And what do you mean you're nearing Bevelle? That in itself is asking for badness!"

"_I need to talk to the Ronso Maester. Remember in the game, during Yuna and her guardians 'trial' the Ronso Maester found out about the Maesters being unsent and he left? Well, we saved Yuna and her party from getting caught when they were in Bevelle, so that trial never happened… thus the Ronso Maester is still there. He doesn't know that Seymour attempted to slaughter the Ronso… and he deserves to know. Maybe we'll even get him on our side…"_

"That's actually… a pretty good idea."

"_Don't sound so surprised Xander! I am known for having good ideas once and awhile you know!"_

"Sure you are." Xander replied sarcastically.

The witty reply he expected didn't come. "Nysa?" she still didn't answer. "Nysa what's---"

"_Shhh!"_

"What's wrong?"

"_Shut up and listen!" _

Xander glared at the com-sphere, but did as he was told. All he could hear was the sound of Nysa breathing…wait there was something in the background!

"_Search the area! Sterge, you said there were two of them?"_

"_Yes Milord Seymour. There was the blond girl and the warrior in yellow."_

"_And yet you let them get away."_

"_Sir, the girl took out fifteen of our men with that Machina gun."_

"_You incompetent fool! Two teens against twenty five men and they still __**got away?!**__" _

"_Sir, with any luck the girl wont make it through the day, she was shot three times."_

"_From what I know of that group they are well prepared with potions."_

"_But sir, our bullets are full of slow acting poison. By the time they realize there was poison involved it'll be too late."_

Xander put the com-sphere down and cursed. He ran over to Tara; no wonder she was in such a deep sleep… she was dying! "Not on my watch…" he whispered as he started frantically searching for a remedy, a thing of holy water and some antidotes. "No time to wake her up…" he pulled at the skin by her wounds, reopening them and poured the antidotes and a good portion of the holy water directly into them. "Sorry…" he whispered seeing her flinch away from his touch.

"Nnnn, Xander?"

"Yea… I'm here."

"What's going on—" she broke off with a gasp of pain. "It hurts!"

"That would be the antidote working… those bastards poisoned you!" He un corked the remedy. "Drink this."

"Oh, okay." Tara reached over and grabbed the bottle. "Ouch."

"_Xander? Xander are you there?"_

Xander walked back to the com-sphere and picked it up. "I'm here. Tara's awake now too."

"_Oh thank goddess. You guys need to get out of the forest immediately. They have all of the warrior monks out looking for you… and they said they think they had found the trail you had used… they're following the chocobo prints!"_

"Okay we'll leave."

"_Summon Bahamut and fly to Baaj. They can't follow you by air and they would have no idea where you went. Once you get there… build a boat or something… and make sure to keep the cloaks on. They recognize you by your outfit… and tell Tara to do something with her hair… they recognize her by her blond hair."_

"Got it." Xander smiled slightly, Nysa worried too much. "Shit!" he could hear the Yevonites. "We have to go… the Yevonites are so close we can hear them." Xander pressed the end button cutting of any reply that Nysa would have had.

"Are you feeling well enough to move?"

"I don't have much of a choice now do I?" the blond replied while drinking a High-potion.

"Unfortunately not." Xander frowned and looked at their chocobo. "Run!" he whispered and pushed on its back end. The chocobo gave him a withering glare and ran away.

A voice in the woods called out, "There! That's their chocobo! Follow it!"

Tara grinned. "What fools."

"Yeah." Xander replied as he summoned Bahamut. "Get on!" he pulled her by her arm to help her climb aboard the dragon. "Fly Bahamut!"

"Oh yea... here." Xander handed Tara her com-sphere. "Call Batalax, tell her and Akail to wear their cloaks. They're less noticeable that way."

"Alright." She pressed the yellow button on the com, "Batalax."

"_Hello?"_

"Hey B, its Tara."

"_Hi! How are you?!"_

"I'm fine, I got shot today though."

"_Really? Awesome! I mean… are you okay?"_

"Haha, I'm fine now. But I had a reason for calling."

"_You mean you didn't call just to talk to me and Mr. Tikki?"_

"Sorry… but no. I called to tell you to wear your black cloak… Tell Akail to wear his too. We're too noticeable otherwise. I speak from experience…getting shot is not fun!"

"_Alright… but we're already wearing our cloaks. We're flying so it would be too cold to not be wearing them."_

"Flying? Where to?"

"_Besaid. Akail says he has a surprise for me."_

Xander glanced toward Tara, "Tell B not to contact Nysa."

Tara frowned, "Xander says not to contact Nysa. I'm not sure why… but, yea."

"_Okay. I won't contact her… but I can still call you right?"_

"Yep. So Akail has a surprise for you?"

"_Yea, but I don't know what."_

"It wouldn't be a surprise if you did." Tara grinned. "Where _is_ Akail?"

"_He's right here… just sleeping."_

"You mean you're driving? He's letting _you_ drive? Is he insane?!"

"_Hey! I'm a good driver! Mr. Tikki thinks so too!"_

"I'm going to… leave now."

"_Fine!"_

"Goodbye B."

"_Bye bye!"_

Tara pushed the end button. "Gods… B scares me sometimes."

Xander laughed. "Me too… Me too."

"So we're off to Baaj?"

Xander frowned. "Why don't we go to Kilika instead?"

"Sure! Anything's better than Baaj. I didn't like that place." Tara smiled, "I'm going to call Nysa and tell her the change of plans."

"No!" Xander cried. "Nysa and Skye are on a mission in Bevelle. If you call it'll blow their cover."

Tara glared at Xander. "You let them go to Bevelle?! Are you _crazy _!!!?"

Xander looked away and concentrated on driving. "I have faith in them."

"…I do too. I just worry."

"Sooo, what are we going to do about your hair? I can shave it off for you."

Tara frowned. "No way in Hell!" She grabbed at her long blond hair as if to protect it. "No touching."

"Fine. But you need to do _something_ with it."

"Fine. I will." She replied glaring at Xander.

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Four hours later, the duo was nearing Kilika. Tara was asleep, and Xander was grinning like a maniac. "Tara!" he shook the girl awake. "Where should we land?"

"In the forest. That way no one will see us." Tara replied while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Bahamut, land here."

"Okay… now what?" Tara glanced around the forest as Xander sent Bahamut away.

"Well, you need to do something with your hair… And we need a cover story."

Tara nodded and moved to sit on a fallen tree. "I'll take a note out of Nysa's book and braid my hair." The blond started to put her hair into one long braid, "I'll tie it up in a bun once I'm done."

Xander nodded. "But what about a cover story?"

"Well, we're all wearing Organization Thirteen styled cloaks… so why don't we say were from Organization Earth? …and that we were attacked by Sin and have gotten separated from the other members?"

"Hmm. That's so crazy…it might just work!"

Tara finished putting her hair up, "Let's make our way into the town."

"Yeah. Lets."

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"Hey kid… where's the nearest Inn?"

The kid gave Xander a quizzical look. "When I grow up… I want to be a Blitzball!"

Xander inwardly cursed, he had forgotten about Kilika… "I thought the toxin would have worn off by now…"

"Any luck?"

Xander frowned. "Tara… I think we're doomed."

"I'll take that as a no?" The blond replied with mirth in her voice.

"Definitely a no."

"Everyone is so depressed…" Tara looked around sadly. "Wait… I have an idea. Can you do me a favor Xander? You can cast status effects right?"

"Yeah… why?"

"Cast Haste and confusion on me. I'm going to sing a song… and there's no way I'll be able to do it if I'm in my right mind."

"You going to…sing?"

"Yeah. Singing cheers people up…and since all this depression is making me irritated I want to make the depression go away." Tara gave Xander a look as if daring him to try and find a fault in her logic.

"Alright. **Haste**. **Confusion**." Xander made sure the confusion spell was mild.

Tara grinned. "Everybody listen up!"

The villagers stared at her blankly. Tara sighed, "I'm going to sing a song for you people, so pay attention!" she started to sing,

"Cat. I'm a kitty cat, and I dance dance dance, and I dance dance dance.  
Cat. I'm a kitty cat, and I dance dance dance, and I dance dance dance.  
Cat. I'm a kitty cat, and I dance dance dance, and I dance dance dance.  
Cat. I'm a kitty cat, and I dance dance dance, and I dance dance dance.  
Cat. I'm a kitty cat, and I dance dance dance, and I dance dance dance.  
Cat. I'm a kitty cat, and I dance dance dance, and I dance dance dance."

Xander watched his friend dance around the stage with a horrified look on his face. But the blond kept going.

"Prerogative posing! Prerogative posing!" Tara shouted as she did a mock pose.

"Cat. I'm a kitty cat, and I meow meow meow, and I meow meow meow.  
Cat. I'm a kitty cat, and I meow meow meow, and I meow meow meow.  
Cat. I'm a kitty cat, and I dance dance dance, and I dance dance dance.  
Cat. I'm a kitty cat, and I dance dance dance, and I dance dance dance."

Xander grinned, he was going to join in on the fun, he jumped up to stand by Tara "I say sexy things to myself while I'm dancing. I say sexy things to myself while I'm dancing."

Tara smiled at Xander, "Prerogative posing! Prerogative posing!"

Together they sang the rest.

"Cat. I'm a kitty cat, and I boop boop boop de de bee bop bop.  
Cat. I'm a kitty cat and I meow meow meow, and I meow meow meow.  
Cat. I'm a kitty cat, and I dance dance dance, and I dance dance dance.  
Cat. I'm a kitty cat and I meow meow meow, and I meow meow meow.  
Cat. I'm a kitty cat, and I dance dance dance, and I dance dance dance."

Both teens bowed to the now smiling crowd. "Thank you! Thank you! We'll be here all week!"

Xander turned to look at Tara, "You did it! Everyone's smiling now! I think you also got the song stuck in all of their heads…" he paused; Tara's face was bright red. "What's wrong?"

Tara winced. "I think the confusion spell just wore off. Oh god. Did I really just do that?!"

Xander smiled. "Yep. I loved the dance moves."

Tara suddenly found her feet very interesting. "Oh god."

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_Please review!_


	11. Matchmaker?

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 10 or 10-2. I also do not own any of the other random cameos that show up in this fic. However, the main characters are based off of real people… but I don't own them... I just make fun of them.

Chapter: Ten.

**Matchmaker?**

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"We're not aloud to contact Nysa and Skye right now." Batalax reached for Akail, "So give me back my Com-Sphere!"

"Nope!" The American grinned. "Mine now!"

"AKAIL! Give it _back!_" Batalax grabbed her Tikki from where it was strapped to her back. "Give it to me before I _make_ you give it to me!" She pointed the Tikki at him.

"Uhhh…" Akail backed up a few steps, "No!" He turned and started to run down the beach, Batalax close behind.

"Akail!!! Give it back!" The mage stopped running and grinned. "**Slow!**"

Akail frowned; he was now running in slow motion. "Nooooot coooooooool!"

"Haha, you sound funny in slow motion." Batalax grabbed the com-sphere from him and put it back on her ear piece. "I thought Nysa was supposed to be the thief in our group, not you!"

"Taaaake Theeeee Speeeeeell ooooff!"

"Fine," The mage huffed as she undid the spell. "So why are we here anyways?"

"It's a surprise!"

Batalax sulked. "Fine, don't tell me!"

"I wasn't planning on it!"

"You weren't?" Batalax gave him her best puppy eyes, "How come?"

"It would ruin the surprise." He replied, "Duh."

Batalax glared. "Don't be mean!"

"I can do whatever I want! I'm a sexy beast!"

"Suuure you are." She replied sarcastically.

"-----Sir Akail!" A tall read headed man called.

Batalax gave her friend a look, "Sir Akail? When did this happen?"

Akail frowned at her, "Some people actually respect me."

The mage shrugged, "How strange." She waved to the redhead, "Hiya. My name's Batalax."

"I am Luzzu."

Batalax blinked, the guy was cute! She grinned, "Nice to meet you Luzzu." Maybe Besaid wasn't so bad after all. "You live here?"

"Yes I do, I've lived here for as long as I can remember."

"Cool, this place is so pretty!"

"Your beauty puts this place to shame."

Batalax blinked. Was he flirting with her? "Uhm… thanks?" she blushed. She was going to _murder_ Akail. "Sooo Akail, what's the surprise?"

"I'm not telling!"

"But then how is it supposed to be a surprise if you won't tell me what the surprise is supposed to be?"

"That doesn't even make sense B."

"Yes it does!"

"No it doesn't!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No it doesn't!"

"It does so make sense!"

"No!"

"Ya!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Yes it does!"

Batalax blinked and then grinned. "I win!"

Akail glared. "Sorry you had to see that Luzzu…"

Luzzu smiled at Akail and went back to watching Batalax do her happy dance. "It was no problem…" he replied distractedly.

Batalax finished her happy dance with a smile, "So Akail, what's my surprise?"

"You'll see…" he replied looking at Luzzu.

"Gahh!" Batalax pouted, "Why don't you just tell me?"

"And ruin my fun? No way!"

Batalax glared at Akail and smiled at Luzzu before stalking away angrily.

"_B, you there?"_

Batalax looked around, "Tara?"

"_Don't sound so confused, B"_

"But I am confused… where are you?"

"_Kilika."_

Batalax blinked in realization, it was the com-sphere! "Akail's being mean to me!"

"_Let me guess… he won't tell you what the surprise is."_

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"_I know you."_

Batalax smiled, she could hear Xander in the background laughing hysterically. "What's the Xand-man laughing at?"

"_I did something… stupid."_

"What did you do?"

"_Okay just for the record, I wasn't in my right mind at the time."_

"Okaaaay… but what were you not in your right mind about that was stupid?"

"_I sang a song. In front of the whole village… loudly… and I danced… and oh god --- kill me now!"_

Batalax joined Xander with laughing hysterically, "What song was it?" the asked through her laughing fit.

"…_Cat, I'm a Kitty Cat."_

"And I dance dance dance?"

"_That's the one."_

If it was possible, Batalax started laughing even harder. She tried to stifle it though as Luzzu and Akail were looking at her as if she was crazy. "You sang it in front of _everybody?_"

"_Again with the whole, 'kill me now' thing."_

"Think you'll perform for the rest of the group once we meet up?"

"_Never."_

"Fine." Batalax pouted.

"Lady Batalax? Who are you talking to?"

The mage spun around to look at Luzzu. "I'm talking to…" she paused knowing Machina was forbidden. "… myself." She finished sheepishly, "Just thinking out loud you know?"

Akail snickered, "Batalax is quite vocal."

Batalax shot the assassin a horrified look. "Akail!" she gripped her Tikki, "I'm going to kill you."

"_Vocal eh?"_

"Tara! Not you too!" she replied while running after Akail. She was seriously going to hurt Akail; he had no right to…to be so…mean! "**Fire!**"

Akail jumped out of the way with a startled look on his face, "Are you trying to kill me?!"

Batalax smiled with forced cheer, "Yes."

"You're a black mage?"

Batalax turned around, startled. She had forgotten Luzzu was there. "Yes I am…" she was about to mention that she was also a summoner, but she decided against it. "I'm a… guardian."

"Of Akail?"

"No…" she paused in thought, "I'm the guardian to Lady Nysa."

"The traitor of Yevon?!"

Akail frowned, "Nysa is as much of a traitor as Yuna… which is not at all."

Luzzu looked startled. "You know her?"

"She's the reason I'm here." Akail replied, Luzzu would think 'here' meant Besaid… but it meant Spira.

"She's been one of my best friends for years." Batalax said.

"It's starting to get dark; we should head back to the village before the larger fiends come out."

Batalax smirked, "The bigger the better."

Akail blinked, "You caught me off guard with that one B."

"Huh? … Akail! Get your mind out of the gutter!"

"As Skye would say, 'I quite like my head in the gutter. You should join me!"

"Sooo, Luzzu, let's go to the village." She grabbed his hand and started to pull him away from Akail.

"_Did you forget about me?"_

"No. I was just hoping if I ignored you you'd go away."

"_That's not very nice!"_

"You and Xander should come to Besaid. It's nice here," she glanced at Luzzu, "And the guys are hot!"

"_I'll ask Xander, we have to explain the cover story to you anyway. "I'll call you later. Bye B!"_

"Bye Tara!"

Luzzu had a faint blush on his cheeks as Batalax pulled him towards the village, a beautiful girl was holding on to his hand, and he hadn't smiled this much since Gatta had died. "Lady Batalax? The village is the other way."

Batalax stopped walking, they had made there way to a cliff overlooking the water. "Well, why didn't you say so before?!" she stalked of in the other direction leaving Luzzu standing on the cliff with a bemused smile on his face.

"What a delightful lady."

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"So this is the village? It's soo cute!"

Luzzu smiled proudly. Batalax thought his village was cute!

Batalax smiled, Akail was sitting by a fire in the middle of the village roasting marshmallows ---wait, where had he gotten marshmallows? "Akail, where did you get those?"

The assassin smiled, "They exist here! Except they are known as snowpuffs instead of marshmallows."

"Snowpuffs?" How unoriginal."

"Would you like one?" Akail held up the bag in offering.

"Damn Skippy!" The mage grabbed a stick from by the fire and placed the marshmallow on it. "Too bad we don't have graham crackers and chocolate chips; I would kill for a smore right now."

"Where'd Luzzu go?"

Batalax glanced behind her but didn't see him. "I don't know. He has a…hut here right? Maybe he went home?"

Akail hmm'ed in contemplation, "Maybe."

Batalax leaned her head on Akail's shoulder, "So what was my surprise?" she mumbled through a yawn.

"Not telling."

"Fine." She tilted her head to glare up at him, "I'll get my revenge you know."

"I know."

"---You guys need to leave."

Batalax frowned and looked up at Luzzu, "Leave?"

"A group of warrior monks just entered the village; they're looking for you guys."

"Shit!" Batalax stood up, all traced of tiredness leaving her face. "Akail, let's go."

Akail nodded and stood up, he reached into his items pouch and grabbed his cloak, he had taken it off earlier as the island temperature was far too high to be wearing it. "B, put your cloak back on."

"I'll stall them. You two just…go somewhere that's not here!"

"Thank you Sir Luzzu." She gave him a chaste kiss on the lips. "Be safe."

Akail smiled, he was right! He knew there would be chemistry between the two of them. "Let's go Batalax."

"Ophelia." She smiled at Akail, "The monks are looking for Batalax, not Ophelia… soo…" she gave Akail a sheepish look. "I'll call you Comman."

Akail turned to look at her, "Comman? Why not Commander? That is my actual name you know."

"Pfft, Commander is a lame name; thus Comman." Batalax looked up, "okay, the coast is clear, let's move out!" she ran towards the village entrance with Akail beside her.

"There they are!" the monks started running after them.

"Forgive me Yevon… for I have sinned." Luzzu whispered before pulling his sword out of its sheath. "No one hurts my girl." He stopped with a startled look on his face, since when had Batalax become _his_ girl? "No matter…" he murmured before starting the chase once again.

"Akail! No! That's the wrong way!" Batalax turned to look behind her; the monks were too close for them to change directions, "Oh my god…" she ran to catch up with Akail who was now standing at the cliff. She looked down, "It's too shallow for us to jump…"

"I'll summon!"

"There's not enough room!" they were standing in far to enclosed of an area to summon. Batalax winced; she could hear the monks coming closer. "Akail… I don't want to die!"

"Me either." He replied. "I'm not going down without a fight." He pulled out his sword.

"Me either." She echoed as she grabbed her Tikki torch.

"Might as well go out in style." Akail pulled out his iPod and pressed play.

"Halt traitors!"

Batalax and Akail shared a look, "Let's do this thing." Akail rushed the guy nearest to him and ran him through with his sword.

"**Blizzaga**!"

"This ends now." The lead monk came to the front of the battle. "Come with me and you won't get hurt."

Akail smirked, "Is that so? How about I just kill you and save myself the hassle?"

"If that's how you feel…" the monk pulled out a shotgun and shot the assassin. Akail had a shocked and slightly pained look on his face as he looked at Batalax. "I'm sorry…" he collapsed and tumbled off the cliff.

"_Akail!!" _Batalax cried as she dropped her Tikki torch and fell to her knees to look at the water below. Akail wasn't resurfacing. She stood up, "Okay. Now I'm angry." She turned to look at the monks.

"Stand down men. She's unarmed."

Batalax closed her eyes, and let the lyrics of the Akail iPod wash over her. He had dropped it before he…fell.

_So stand in the rain. Stand your ground; Stand up when it's all crashing down. You stand through the pain, you won't drown… And one day, what's lost can be found. You stand in the rain._

Batalax opened her eyes and concentrated on her Tikki. It flew to her hand and she grinned sadistically. "**Doublecast! Ultima**!"

Luzzu who had just run into the clearing blinked and ran the other way; he didn't run quick enough and was picked up in the explosion and thrown fifty feet into the sand of the Besaid beach. He didn't get up.

The monks exploded into pireflies and Batalax blinked. Batalax collapsed to the ground with tears streaming down her face. "Now I'll never know what the surprise was…" She laughed bitterly; Nysa's coping mechanisms were rubbing off on her.

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Please review!


	12. Hiding In Plain Sight

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 10 or 10-2. I also do not own any of the other random cameos that show up in this fic. However, the main characters are based off of real people… but I don't own them... I just make fun of them.

Chapter: Eleven.

**Hiding in plain sight!**

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"We need a better disguise." Nysa frowned at her black cloak, "These things are nice… but we kind of stand out way too much in them."

"I've noticed." Skye replied. Everyone was looking at them like they were fashion rejects, which Skye found strange, because the cloaks they were wearing were actually really cool looking. "So what do you suggest we do?"

"Kill everyone?"

Skye gave her friend an incredulous look, "Right, because it's not as if we're already on the most wanted list."

Nysa laughed, "Well, at least we know we're wanted." She grinned, "It would suck if we were on the least wanted list."

"Too true." Skye pointed to the market area of Bevelle. "Let's go shopping for new clothes!" she mouthed the words 'better disguise' with a knowing look.

"I'm game!" Nysa grabbed her friends arm and started to rollerblade towards the market. "What do you think?" Nysa held up a hideous looking sweater. "Is it me?" she was grinning.

"Oh, it's soo you!" was the sarcastic reply. "Oh… Ny---" she paused briefly, "Croft, look at that!"

Nysa looked up from the wrack of clothing she was browsing through, "What am I looking at?"

"That!" Skye pointed to an outfit that looked like what Ashe from Final Fantasy Twelve wears, the colors were darker, but the outfit was basically the same. "I'm so getting it!"

"From a Rikku like outfit to an Ashe like outfit… Interesting choices…Kane."

"You should go for a final fantasy style outfit too!"

"I will." Nysa replied as she spotted the outfit she wanted. "That one." She pointed to the outfit."

"Which final fantasy character wears that one?"

"Beatrix from Final Fantasy Nine."

The two girls walked up to the teller, "We would like to purchase these outfits," Skye gestured to the two outfits.

"Okay, that will be 20, 000 Gil. Do you want the weapons that come with the outfits?"

"No, this is fine, but do you have a change room we could use?" Nysa replied handing the teller the Gil.

"Right over there," the woman pointed to the change rooms, "You two girls aren't from around here are you?"

"No… is it that obvious? What we're wearing is normal attire from where we are from," okay so it was a lie, but the lady didn't need to know that.

"I see… Go on right over there and change Ladies."

"Thank you." Skye and Nysa replied simultaneously as the headed to the change room.

"You go first Kane."

Skye walked into the change room and started to change, "Wow, this outfit is confusing!"

Nysa leaned up against the change room wall with her eyes closed; it had been a busy two days, just yesterday they were saving the Ronso, and today they were doing a covert operation to talk to the Ronso Maester. "Well," she murmured, "as Xander would say… we don't get paid enough for this."

"We do get good money from the fiends we kill though," Skye added as she walked out of the change room. "You can change now."

Nysa nodded her head in acknowledgment and walked into the small room.

"We would like to speak with Maester Kelk Ronso."

"Do you have an appointment?"

Skye frowned, "No, but it's really impor—"

"I'm sorry. You can not speak to him without an appointment."

Now Skye was getting irritated. "It's a matter of life and death!"

"If you don't have an appointment, you can't see the Maester. I'm sorry."

Nysa looked up from the magazine she was reading, "Can we make an appointment to see Maester Kelk Ronso?"

The lady smiled, "Of course. What is your name, so I can write it down for reference?"

"My name is Croft." Nysa gestured to Skye, "And this is Kane."

"Okay, Lady Croft, Lady Kane. The Maester is free right now." The lady gestured to the Machina lift. "Right this way."

The two girls shared a look, both thinking the same thing. This had been too easy.

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"The lady told us to go right in…so why are we just standing here?"

Skye frowned, "Erm…" she tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear, "Because…I don't know?"

"Gahh, I'll never understand you…Kane."

"I never have understood you Croft, and I've known you since I was six."

Nysa laughed, "Let's just do this."

"I have a really bad feeling about this though…"

Nysa gave the dark haired girl a startled look, "You have a bad feeling about this too?"

"—arghh"

Both girls looked to the door in shock, "What was that?"

Nysa frowned, "Only one way to find out." She opened the door to find Seymour standing over the body of Maester Kelk. "Oh goddess… Kane --- don't come in here."

Seymour gave Nysa a contemplative look, "You. I know you?"

Nysa glared. "Yeah. Remember, I had the pleasure of killing you last time. Why won't you stay dead?"

"Ahh… Lady Nysa. You look different. But it's such good fortune that you're here."

Nysa mouthed the words 'what the hell' and glared. "Why did you give up looking for Lady Yuna?"

"She is of no use to me anymore. You and your friends on the other hand…" Seymour closed his hand in a chocking motion and Nysa gasped, he was cutting off her air supply with magic!

"We-- will --never --help --you." She coughed out.

Seymour smiled a cruel smile. "Then, you will die."

"Not on my watch." Skye tackled Seymour to the ground and knocked him unconscious by slamming his head into the floor multiple times. "Oomph,"

Nysa looked up from her place on the floor, "Thanks Skye." She uncorked a potion and downed it in one go. "What is it with people and choking me?" she stood up shakily and offered Skye a hand up. "I think we had better get out of here before----"

"Ahhhhhh!! Murderers!"

Nysa looked to the doorway where the secretary was now standing. "Before _that_."

The ladys scream caught the attention of some of the warrior monks, Nysa and Skye shared a look. "Too easy eh?"

Nysa gave a war cry, and the two girls charged the monks taking down everyone in their paths, Skye with her sword, Nysa with her daggers.

"Down!" Nysa reached for her throwing knives.

Skye followed the instruction with haste and watched as the thief threw a knife where her head had been seconds before, she looked at the target and grinned, there was a dagger right between his eyes. "Nice shot." she stood back up. "Move to your left!"

Nysa moved to her left instantly and grinned as Sarah stabbed the man who had been behind her. "We have to get out of here now… there are too many of them for us to fight." She gripped her daggers and looked around the room, her green eyes widening in realization, Seymour was awake! She kneed the guy she was fighting in the stomach, and smiled grimly, "Skye… when I say go… call on Ifrits power and create a wall of fire separating you from the fight… and then run for your life."

Skye frowned worriedly and stabbed another monk, "But what about you? I won't leave you!"

"You must!" The thief pulled the pin out of a grenade and threw it into the mass of warrior monks. Seeing as how the men were down momentarily Nysa grabbed Skye by the shoulders. "Sarah." She used her friend's earth name to show how serious she was. "I got us into this mess. Now let me get us out of it." She handed Skye the Com-sphere.

Skye nodded slightly and equipped the Com, "You had better come out of this alive. I won't lose you Nysa." She saw one of the monks getting up out of the corner of her eye and knocked the gun out of his hands with her sword. To herself she whispered, "Tara would kill me."

Nysa locked eyes with Seymour; he didn't look happy. But that was okay, she wasn't happy either. "Back for more? Wasn't one death at our hands enough for you?" Seymour visibly bristled in anger and Nysa grinned. Anger was a double sided sword; one she was very accomplished on weilding. The thief pulled out two flash bombs and let them off in Seymour's direction. "Skye, Go!"

Skye sheathed her sword and held her hands out palm up. "Ifrit… lend me your power…" She had never done this before so it was a shock when the request was answered. Skye opened her eyes and grinned, she could feel the power running through her veins. The assassin smirked and gestured to the floor; a wall of fire ignited. "Be safe Nysa." She locked eyes with the thief through the flames, and then she ran.

Nysa visibly startled, Skye's eyes had flames in them… literally. And it wasn't a reflection of the fire…it was the eyes themselves. "Whoa…"

"That is impossible! An Aeon never fully merges with a summoner!"

Nysa gave Seymour an annoyed look. "Improbable; not impossible." And although she looked smug, inside she was reeling with all the possibilities this could open up for her and her friends… when she had told Skye to call on Ifrits power she meant summon Ifrit… not use his power with her own body. Nysa grinned… Two can play that game… she closed her eyes in concentration. "Shiva… please lend me your power."

"Thank you for the knowledge that Aeon merging is possible." Seymour closed his eyes in concentration only to open them in fury. "Why did it work for you and not me?!"

Nysa smirked, "Just lucky I guess." She pointed her hand at him and glared. "Goodnight Seymour." She let some of the power running through her veins escape and Seymour became frozen solid. The thief yawned, that attack had completely depleted her _MP_.

"Anyone else want to play?" she locked eyes with all of the monks in the room, "If you let me walk out of this building… you get to stay alive. If you decide to fight… I'll kill you all." She pointed her finger at the frozen Seymour and he shattered into a million pieces.

"Don't worry… it'll take more than death to stop you're Maester. I know from experience… this is my second time killing him." She gave them a slightly pitying look. "None of your Maesters are actually alive; Mika has bean dead for years… Seymour was killed by Lady Yuna… Seymour killed Kinoc and Kelk. Can you say corrupted religion?"

The men gave her a blank stare so she shrugged. "I'm leaving now. Bye!" it was best to get out of here while they were still in there shocked stupor.

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"Skye?" Nysa called as she walked into the Inn room. "I made it out alive…" Skye had a horrified look on her face. "Is that a bad thing that I got…" Nysa paused, "Skye... what's wrong?"

Skye picked up the com-sphere that she had taken earlier and handed it to her friend. "I just got a call from Batalax."

"And…?" Nysa waved her hand in a motion signaling her friend to continue.

"Akail…" she stopped and looked at the wall trying to stop her eyes from tearing up. "Akail's dead."

"What?" Nysa backed up a step. "You're lying…" she glared at Skye, "Tell me you're lying!"

"I'm sorry Ny…"

Nysa took another step back and gave her friend a horrified look, "How?"

"They were ambushed by Warrior monks…"

"Are you sure he's really…" she blinked back tears, "Maybe he's just hurt… right? He could be just…hurt…couldn't he?"

Skye stood and embraced her friend… "I'm sorry…"

"He can't be dead! We were going to go on a road trip… me, him, Tara and Brendan…" Nysa looked up at Skye, "…He can't be dead… he just can't! He's one of my best friends!" Nysa pushed away from Skye. "He's not dead! I won't allow it!" she looked out the window towards the Bevelle temple. "I will not allow this. You hear me Bahamut? He's not dead!"

The temperature in the room dropped about ten degrees. Skye glanced around in shock, "Nysa, calm down… you're magic is freezing the room!" Even though it was freezing, Skye noticed she was still warm. "Batalax needs us now."

"You…you're right." Nysa closed her eyes in concentration, "Shiva, you may go now." She paused and opened her eyes in shock. "Skye…I can't contact Shiva! She wont take the power back!" she tried to locate Bahamut's presence in her mind and found it easily… but Shiva was no longer there.

Skye closed her eyes and concentrated. "It's the same for me…" Skye glanced at her friend only to stare in shock, "What's that?" she walked over to grab Nysa's arm; there was a glowing symbol on her hand, it looked like a snow flake. "You're cold to the touch Nysa…" she let the younger girls hand go and removed her blue glove. She had a glowing symbol too, but hers was the symbol of fire. "When we called on their power…they completely merged with us."

"If we could do this…the rest of the group can too right? Xander would probably get extra strength… Tara would be able to cause Harry Potter unforgivable type pain, you have fire… I have Ice, Batalax would have Lightning… and Akail---" she abruptly stopped talking.

"Wind. He would have had wind."

"But he never will. He's dead remember?"

"Nysa…" Skye frowned at her friend and looked out the window in thought. "Let's go get B…she needs us right now."

"You're right." Nysa looked at Skye guiltily, "I'm sorry… It's just…if I hadn't befriended him…he'd still be alive."

"Don't blame yourself Nysa! It's not like you asked to go on this stupid pilgrimage… Bahamut needed us." She smiled slightly, "It's not as if you _asked_ to be needed."

Nysa looked away guiltily; "You're right…" she lied. She had forgotten… she hadn't told anyone about her conversation with Bahamut back on Earth…"I'm sorry…"

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"Batalax."

"_Hmm…?"_

"Where are you?"

"_Besaid."_

"Are you alright?"

"_I'm fine."_

"Me and Nysa are going to come get you okay?"

"_Hmm…"_

"Do you want to talk to Nysa?"

"_No thank you."_

"Oh… alright. We're on our way."

"_Hmm… bye."_

"We love you Batalax."

"_Okay."_

The line went dead. "Nysa… we need to get to her quickly. She's so silent… it scares me."

"Alright." Nysa sheathed her daggers. "Let's go."

The two girls had changed into their regular outfits, which made Nysa glad. While wearing the Beatrix outfit she had missed her bright yellow combat boots. "Where is B?"

"Besaid." Skye frowned, "That's where… that's where he fell. We need to get B away from there." The assassin frowned and tucked her hair behind her ear, "But where will we go? Where _can_ we go?"

Nysa looked thoughtful. "Yuna and her guardians are probably almost done in Zanarkand… the Airship picks them up as soon as they get out of the dome… We'll signal them or something so they can pick us up or maybe hang out in Luca for awhile or go find my sister and visit her?" Nysa gave Skye a helpless look, "I don't know. I just…don't know."

"Let's not think of it until we need to." Skye smiled reassuringly, "let's just get out of Bevelle and go to Besaid for now. Once we have Batalax we can figure out what to do."

"Seymour is probably up and about again. I wouldn't be surprised if he had his band of not-so-jolly-men ambush us." She looked at Skye, "Take off your cloak… we're done hiding." Her eyes grew cold. "They killed one of us, I think it's about time they learned how bad of an idea that was. They messed with the wrong witch."

Skye winced. If the Yevonites attacked them… it would be a massacre. But then again, those bastards deserved it. "I'm in." she locked eyes with Nysa and was shocked at the sight, the green of Nysa's eyes looked as if it was made of ice, literally.

"It's game time." Nysa kicked the inn doors open and stepped out onto the street, Skye right beside her.

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Please review!


	13. What Is Right

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 10 or 10-2. I also do not own any of the other random cameos that show up in this fic. However, the main characters are based off of real people… but I don't own them... I just make fun of them.

Chapter: Twelve.

**What is right!**

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Xander and Tara waved as they lifted off, the people here liked them…it helped that said people thought the two were famous musicians. Bahamut would have drawn far too much attention to them, so they were taking the S.S Winno, normally it would be the S.S Likki, but it had been damaged by Sin about three months prior to their journey.

"I can't believe this is happening…"

"I know."

"It's just…we knew him ---he was our friend…"

"I know."

"We saw him like three days ago… and he was fine."

"I know."

"Xander… please say something else before I decide to kill you."

"I know---- wait, what?"

Tara smiled lightly, Xander was lost in la-la-land, "Who do you think will get there first… us or Nysa and Skye?"

"It really depends on how fast they're moving and when they left. Bahamut is fast though…really fast. So I'm guessing they'll get there first… which is good, Nysa needs to talk to Batalax… she has a gift with helping people." He smiled reassuringly, "We're going to be all right… we have to be."

"She _is_ good with helping grieving people…but what if she's grieving? When she's depressed she loses control of her anger easier… and she has a lot of pent up anger to lose control of."

Xander winced slightly, "When Nysa was upset she got angry…and when she was angry it always led to violence… a lot of violence. "We'll have to go somewhere where the fiends are harder to beat…she get let her anger out on them."

"Good idea." She got a thoughtful look on her face, "How far have you gotten on your sphere grid?"

Xander blinked, startled by the subject change. "Pretty far, I really only have my Black Mage section and my White Mage section left, how about you?"

"I just have my Thief section and my White Mage section left… Me and Nysa spent a lot of time fighting when we were at Baaj… not to mention all the bird type fiends we fought while riding on Bahamut."

Xander nodded, "A bit of a subject change," he leaned over the railing and glanced at the water, "I've noticed something, there doesn't seem to be any schools in Spira… what's with that? How do people learn stuff?"

"Maybe that's why the people of Spira are so ignorant? Life for them is about survival and what little enjoyment they can find… it isn't about knowledge."

"How strange…"

Tara smiled, "You're such a nerd Xander… Only you would be whining about the lack of schools."

"Well---" he cut himself off, and pointed, "There's Nysa and Skye." He grinned, "Nysa! Skye!"

Tara winced, "could you please not yell so close to my ear?"

Xander smiled sheepishly, "Uhh, Oops?"

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"Nysa! Skye!"

The two girls looked around in confusion only to spot Tara and Xander on a large ferry/boat below them.

"Should we pick them up?"

Nysa frowned, "Alright, as long as it doesn't slow us down."

"We're on our way down!" Skye shouted.

Nysa directed Bahamut to fly down to the boat. She looked towards her two friends, "Get on."

Xander and Tara shared a look and jumped onto the dragons back. "To Besaid now?"

Nysa nodded in Tara's direction. "Yes."

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The group looked around the beach in awe, "It's a lot bigger than it was in the game…" Nysa whispered. She pressed the talk button on her Com, "Batalax."

"_Hmm?"_

"We're in Besaid. Where are you?"

"_I'm at the cliff overlooking the water. I'm sure you know where it is… you seem to know everything about this game." _

"Alright, I'm on my way."

"_Mmm hmm,"_

Nysa frowned to herself as the line went dead. Batalax sounded tired, and weary; two things that people never related with the outspoken Tikki wielding girl. The thief turned and glanced at her friends, "Wait here. I'll be right back." She smiled lightly, but it didn't reach her eyes.

Nysa walked across the beach deep in thought, thinking about all the fighting they had done in Bevelle. "Was it even worth it? Now they think we killed a Maester and attacked another… This was all so much easier before we got involved… I hate religion." She glanced up from looking at the sand and turned left. "Religion corrupts. Religion killed my friend. Yevon will pay the price for pissing me off." The thief stopped her ranting as she walked into the clearing. "Batalax…"

"Hey…" the mage attempted a smile.

"Hey…" Nysa lasted about three seconds before she threw herself at the mage, gripping the girl in a tight hug. "Let's get out of here B… lets go---" Nysa paused in thought, "Let's go to the thunder plains!"

Ophelia smiled lightly, "Okay… but in order to do that you need to let me go."

Nysa jumped back with a sheepish look on her face. "Right. I can do that."

"---Leaving?"

Both girls turned to look at the new speaker. Batalax smiled guiltily seeing the sling he had his arm in. "Hey Luzzu…"

"Luzzu?" Nysa smiled up at the man, "Nice to meet you… I'm Nysa." She gave a halfhearted wave.

"_The_ Nysa? Lady Batalax has spoken highly of you."

"Really?" Nysa beamed, "Thanks B."

"_Nysa?"_

The thief frowned, "I gotta take this," she turned around and pressed the talk button. "What is it?"

"_We got company… in the form of a blue haired megalomaniac."_

Nysa cursed. "Batalax, we gotta go…Now!"

"What…why?"

"Seymour's here! He's at the beach with the rest of the group… Skye can hold him off for a little while but we need to get going." She glanced at Luzzu, "I'm sorry for the rush… but I'm sure Batalax has told you the situation?" Seeing his nod she continued. "It's gotten worse, now Seymour has framed Skye and me for the murder of Maester Kelk."

"Maester Kelk is dead?!"

"We came into the room and Seymour was standing over his dead body." Nysa frowned sympathetically, "I'm sorry…" she gave the crusader a half smile, "it was a shock for us too."

"I'm guessing your mission was deemed a failure?" Batalax smiled reassuringly, "Better luck next time."

"Yeah." She gestured in the direction of the beach, "Go now, talk later?"

Luzzu walked in front of them and blocked their way, "I'm coming with you."

"No." both girls exclaimed simultaneously. "We don't need you getting on their hit-list too."

"And I need to know you're safe…" Batalax smiled at him, "I'll be back."

Nysa nodded politely while giving her friend a strange look, what was going on between her and Luzzu? "Farewell Sir Luzzu." Nysa sidestepped the redheaded man and started to run in the direction of the beach.

"I _will_ be back." Batalax whispered venomously at seeing his doubtful look. "See you then…" she hugged him goodbye and ran after Nysa. Right before the turnoff to the beach she turned back and shouted, "E muja oui!" She knew he wouldn't understand her… but that was the point. Batalax continued to run, inwardly thanking Nysa for teaching her some basic fraises in Al Bhed. The mage gasped seeing the battle in front of her. How were Nysa and Skye doing that?

"Back for more Seymour?" Skye spat the name out with great dislike. "I was hoping to test my new powers out on someone stupid… you're the perfect candidate!" she pointed her finger at him and he was surrounded in a circle of flames.

"Hiya Lord Seymour Sir." Nysa called out mockingly as she walked towards the group. "You look a little warm, want me to fix that?" she smirked sadistically. "Cold can hurt just as much as hot."

"No." Batalax whispered walking so she was standing next to the thief. "It's my turn." The group nodded as one and took a step back. "Release him."

Skye nodded and the flames that had been holding him in place vanished as if they had never been there.

Batalax walked up to Seymour, and before he had a chance to blink she smacked him over the head with her Tikki, knocking him out cold. "You ordered our deaths… and partially succeeded. It won't happen again." She glared down at the unconscious man, "Let's send him."

"Okay."

The group of five stood in a circle around the unsent Maester. Nysa pointed her finger and had ice bind him to the ground. "He's not getting away this time." She replied to the unasked question.

The group preformed the sending, their movements almost completely in sync. The body started to fade and pireflies flew out of the unsent. Nysa frowned and looked at where the body had been, "Is it just me or did this seem---"

"— Too easy?" Tara pulled at the vines that she had used to tie her hair up, releasing the long blond tresses to fall down her back, "Yea. It does seem as if this was too easy… too convenient."

"And he came alone, why would he do that?" Skye gave the group a confused look, "He never goes anywhere without his minions."

"And last time it took us…" Xander glanced at the other four, thinking about the other member of their team, "_All_ of us… to beat him."

"Something isn't right." Batalax glared at the ground where Seymour had been lying. "Something _really_ isn't right here." She looked up at Skye and Nysa, "Something isn't right with the two of you either."

"B's right. What the hell did you two do earlier?" Tara glared at Skye accusingly, "You made Batalax's strongest fire spell look like a low level Fira!" she turned her glare on Nysa, "And you made her strongest Blizzard spell look like a low level Blizzara!" She crossed her arms and gestured for the two to explain their selves.

"It happened in Bevelle… I told Skye to call on Ifrits power… so she could escape. She misunderstood me… she asked Ifrit to lend her power… and when that happened…Ifrit was no more. Essentially, Skye _is_ Ifrit. They merged." Nysa paused with a thoughtful look on her face, "I merged with Shiva, but was unable to do so with the Magus Sisters, and I didn't try with Bahamut, as once you merge the Aeon is no longer in you're mind and you can no longer talk to them." Tentatively she glanced at the rest of the group, "I believe we can all merge with our Aeon, maybe that's why we all have one of our own?"

Skye took off her right glove and put her hand out for the others to see, it had a glowing red symbol on it that looked like fire. Nysa seeing what she was doing also put her hand out for the others to see. "Maybe this extra power is what we need to defeat Sin?"

Tara had a pensive look on her face, "So you just ask the Aeon to lend their power and you merge?"

Nysa and Skye shared a look, "Basically, yeah." Skye looked over at Nysa to confirm what she was about to say, "You'll know if it worked immediately… you can actually _feel_ the power running through your veins."

"So are you guys going to go through with this?" Nysa asked the group.

Tara smiled, "Let's do this thing."

"Fuck yeah." Xander grinned, "Think I'll get like super strength or something?"

"No idea. But I'll probably get like a super powered lightning ability." B smirked and spun her Tikki around.

Nysa realized they were still standing on the beach, "We should get out of here, maybe go find my sister?"

"Alright. But first I want to do this merge thing." Tara closed her eyes in concentration, "Anima, please lend me your power." Tara's eyes opened and smiled, "You're right… it feels…powerful."

Xander glanced at Tara and shrugged, "Guess it's my turn. Yojimbo, I paid you. Lend me your power." He grinned when he felt the power, "I feel like I could take on Sin single handedly!"

Batalax smirked, "Don't do that. That would be stupid on an epic level." She closed her eyes and concentrated on Ixions presence, "Ixion, please lend to me your power." Sparks surrounded her, and she grinned. "Whoa."

"Let's go. We need to get out of here."

"I agree with Nysa. I've had a bad feeling ever since we sent Seymour…if it was even him." Skye tucked a stray piece of her hair behind her ear and smiled slightly, "Before we do anything though…we should go to Zanarkand and check on the Spiran group… it's been about a week since we saw them last… they should be almost done by now…"

"Yeah. I agree; let's go to Zanarkand." Xander smirked, "Maybe we'll get to kick Yunalesca around a bit before they send her!"

"Xander, they've probably already kicked her unsent scantily clad ass all the way to the Farplane." Nysa smiled slightly, "But it's worth a shot. I _hate _Yunalesca!" The thief summoned Bahamut and climbed aboard. "Stupid half naked whore…with her stupid _Mega Death_ attack…" she glared at the rest of the group and gestured for them to climb on, "And anyways," she continued, "No video game bad guy should have an attack called _Mega Death!_ It's just not right!"

"Mega Death?" Batalax gave the thief an incredulous look, "What a lame name—" she cut herself off abruptly and looked away, her eyes locking on the boat that Tara and Xander had been on; it was only now docking at the Besaid dock, Batalax smiled at the tiny boat; it reminded her of the Glade-ferry back home on earth.

Nysa glanced at the mage with a worried expression; Tara put her hand on the thief's shoulder to stop her from reaching out to the mage. "Let her be…" Tara whispered.

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"So this is Zanarkand?" Batalax smiled slightly, "It's pretty…" The group had been flying non-stop since they left Besaid, so they enjoyed the feeling of stretching their legs while examining the surroundings. The ruins were filled with pireflies and the whispers of the dead.

"It's bigger than I thought it was going to be…"

Nysa gave the warrior an incredulous look, "Zanarkand was one of the four largest cities in Spiran history… and you thought it was going to be small?" Nysa frowned mockingly and looked up to the sky as if praying. "Why do I always surround myself with idiots?"

"H-_ey_! I'm not an idiot!"

"I wasn't talking about you Tara…"

The gun-mage smirked, "Right. Of course not."

Skye gave the ruins a wary look, "What's with all the pireflies?"

"I'm honestly not that sure…" the thief paused in thought, "I think it's because of the high death rate of summoners in this area. When they or their guardians die this far out… there is no one to send them; they never get their peace."

Batalax frowned, "That's so sad…" the mage reached into her bag and pulled out her recording sphere. She walked away from the group and turned it on, speaking quietly she pointed it out towards the ruined city. "Zanarkand. The city of the dead."

"We should continue on our way… in the game Sin showed up right as the Spiran group came out of the ruins… I don't want to be here when Sin shows up. We've been lucky so far… let's not push it."

Batalax scowled and turned off the recording sphere. "Yeah. Real _freaking_ lucky." She glared at Xander and stalked into the ruins angrily.

Xander grimaced and glanced at the back of the angry mage in despair, "I…didn't mean it like that…"

Tara sighed and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We know…" she glanced at Nysa. Getting the hint, the green eyed thief smiled distantly and went after the mage.

"B!" She called out, "Batalax wait!" the mage continued to walk. "Ophelia Ellette-a Batalax, stop!"

The mage stopped suddenly and turned to face her friend, "Ellette-a?"

"Well…" Nysa shifted from one foot to another sheepishly, "When you call someone by their full name, it usually gets their attention… but then I realized you don't have a full name here; none of us do… so I made one up on the spot… and now you're looking at me all funny-like…" she stopped for a breath. _"What?"_

Batalax was almost falling to the ground she was laughing so hard; once she had control of herself she pulled out her Tikki torch and bonked the thief on the head playfully. "Thank you Nysa. I needed that." The mage grabbed her friend and pulled her into a tight hug.

"We can… we can go see _him_ if you want." Nysa glanced at the taller girl. "I mean--- there's a place, that we can go." The thief looked off into the distance, watching the pireflies float from here to there. "It's called the Farplane." She continued. "It's a place where you can see the…dead. No one really knows how it works… but the Al Bhed have a theory that the massive amount of pireflies that are in the Farplane react to something and show your loved ones that have passed on. It doesn't just show you what you want to see though, only the dead." She paused, "Which makes my theory wrong. I thought that it just showed your memories; that the pireflies reacted to them… but in the game, Tidus thought of Jecht, but he didn't show up because he's not dead. And I'm babbling so I'll stop now." She smiled slightly at the mage. "Stupid fan-fiction has gotten me all confused; sometimes it's hard to remember what actually happened in the game, and what was fanfic about the game."

The mage gave her friend a blank look, "Alright…" she glanced back to the campsite that her friends were sitting at, "When can we go? We… we don't have to be gone long, I just need to see him… tell him that I'm sorry."

"It wasn't your fault Ophelia!" Nysa grabbed the mage by her shoulders and forced the taller girl to face her. "It wasn't your fault. Don't even think that! Seymour is at full liability for this… not you." The thief glanced over the mages shoulder at their small group of friends, "We can go now. It wont take too long… we'll get there, stay at an Inn for the night, go to the Farplane at daybreak… and then come back here." She paused to plan what they would do after that. "We could tell the group to continue through the ruins without us, and tell them we'll meet them at the cloister of trials… unless they meet up with the Spiran group before then."

"Okay. Sounds like a plan." Batalax gripped her friends arm and started to pull her towards the group. "We'll tell them the basics and head out."

"Sir! Yes! Sir!" Nysa called out sarcastically.

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"So you forgot something in Besaid?"

"Yep." Batalax looked at the ground in what she hoped looked like embarrassment. "I really need to go get it… its really important to me… I can't believe I left it behind in the first place."

"It's true." Nysa added giving the mage a slightly reproaching look, why were they lying? "She forgot…" the thief paused in apparent thought of how to word what she was going to say. "_His_ iPod"

"Nysa's going to come with me to get it… we decided that you three should go on ahead, and that we'll meet you in the cloister of trials."

"Alright…" Tara replied slightly skeptical.

"I'm sorry about what I said earlier about being lucky… I just meant we were lucky that we haven't had a run in with Sin…"

"It's okay Xander. I overreacted…"

"Well, you two should probably get going if you want to get back here on time… it took all day to get here…and you have to go there and back… so if you don't leave now… you wont get here till late tomorrow night." Skye frowned thoughtfully, "You two be careful alright? I don't like the idea of splitting up as much as I used to." A loud grinding noise caught the assassins' attention, "We've got company." She pointed to a large Machina towering over the group. "You two go now, we'll handle this junk metal."

"Alright."

"Thank you Skye."

The two girls climbed aboard Bahamut, "Be safe!" Batalax cried out before they took flight.

Skye sighed as she watched the two girls fly away, "Let's turn this thing into scrap."

Xander pulled out his sword and struck the Robot-Machina, "**Mental break!**" the attack took 10, 000 _HP_ from the Machina. "Fry the bastard!"

Skye nodded gleefully, "My turn." She pointed to the Machina and let her fire consume it. "Tara, shoot it!"

Tara pulled out her gun; the fiend was glowing red from the heat of the flames Skye had used. "**Holy!**" a glowing white bullet flew towards the Machina, obliterating it. Tara blew on the end of her gun and re-sheathed it, "Mmm, that was fun."

"We should get some sleep; we're going to need to be at full strength when we enter the dome tomorrow morning. I'll keep first watch… who wants to go after me?"

"I will. Skye looks like she really needs some shut eye."

"Thanks Tara, I'm exhausted." Skye pulled her tent out and started setting it up. "I really wish Nysa hadn't forgotten all her charm bangles on Gagazet… we'll have to pick them up soon, so then none of us have to stay up all night to be on fiend watch."

"Haha, that cave is probably one of the safest places in Spira right now, and since there are few people with the Use ability, it'll probably stay the safest place in Spira until Nysa wises up and reclaims her bangles," Tara smiled tiredly, "But yea, I'm going to sleep too. Xand, wake me up when you get too tired… and don't push yourself; you deserve sleep as much as we do." Tara gave a half wave and climbed into the tent after Skye. "G'night Skye."

"Night Tara."

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"Here we are."

"Guady-salem?" Batalax looked around, "I've been here before. Why are we here?"

"It's Guadosalam, and it's the only known place with an entrance to the Farplane." Nysa walked towards a small fountain in front of a brightly decorated store-front and started getting her hands wet to tame the static overtaking her hair. "I blame this on you." She gestured to her static-filled hair. Batalax had convinced her to stop so they could play in the thunder plains. "I got struck six times! Six _freaking_ times!"

"It's not my fault the lightning likes you. I wonder if it has anything to do with your power over ice? I think the reason I wasn't struck is because I have control over lightning…and lightning supposedly never strikes in the same place twice."

"Bah! Don't make me turn you into a popsicle out of spite!"

"Alright!" the mage held her hands up in a show of innocence. "Don't shoot!"

Nysa growled jokingly, "I'll get you my pretty. And you're little Tikki too!"

"Leave Tikki George alone! He hasn't done anything to you!" Batalax hugged the Tikki to herself.

Nysa took a step back in shock, "Tikki….George?"

"Yeah. It was going to be George Tikki, but Tikki George sounds better." The mage swing the Tikki around gleefully, "I know! He's Japanese! So the names are backwards!"

"Al-_righty_" the thief backed up slightly fearfully.

"Haha." Batalax looked around, "Look! An Inn!"

"Thank goddess! Sleep time!"

"Let's go!" the mage grabbed her friends arm and pulled her towards the Inn.

"Pull your cloak hood up B… this is Seymour's hometown." She stopped and followed her own advice.

"Excuse me; we would like to rent a room for the night."

"That will come to five hundred Gil."

Nysa reached in her pouch and pulled out the correct amount. "Do you sell items here?"

"Yes we do." The Guado woman replied with a smile.

Nysa and Batalax stocked up on everything they needed and headed for bed, both stopping at the save point on the way.

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"I could really use a coffee."

Rebecca grinned, "Cadmion. Get the guy a coffee." She smirked smugly seeing her minion following her orders so quickly. "I love being in charge, and not having to do anything."

The redheaded woman grinned; she had managed to set up her coffee shop in the middle of the Calm Lands. "I wonder what Tracy and her minions are up to?" she shrugged indifferently, "No matter, Karina will keep her in line." She went back to the front counter and sat on a comfy bar stool.

Cadmion looked at his boss in awe, he had been told she talked to herself, but this was his first time actually seeing it happen. "Uhh, boss? The customer wishes to speak with you."

Hmm… the man looked familiar ---slightly. "What do you want?"

"I need your help." The man replied.

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"So this is the Farplane entrance? Pretty cool."

"It actually looked a lot different in the game… it was just like a blue portal… not this…" Nysa broke off, examining the portal to the Farplane, it reminded her of a Stargate; it even had the right symbols. She looked towards the man guarding the portal. "We wish to visit the Farplane."

The man nodded and dialed something onto the little pad beside the Stargate-look-alike. The portal activated and Nysa smiled, it looked even more like a Stargate now. "Go on ahead; I'll have my partner open the gateway from your side when you wish to come back."

"Thank you." Nysa replied, Batalax looked too stunned to speak. "Let's go B." she pulled the astonished girl through the portal.

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"Whoa."

"I…second that notion."

The entrance to the actual Farplane was at the top of a golden staircase. The whole place was glowing and pireflies could be seen under the surface of the gold walkway trying to get free.

"Are you ready B?"

"As I'll ever be." She replied, her voice full of awe. "This place is… out of this world…it's beautiful!"

"It really is…"

Water surrounded the walkway, in some places forming small waterfalls down to nowhere. Batalax walked to the edge of the golden road, "There isn't a bottom… the water just…keeps going." The water was so blue it gave the place a peaceful glow. Chimes could be heard blowing in the wind furthering the tranquility of the place. The two girls smiled slightly and walked up the stairs to a glowing gateway; it looked like it had been carved out of fire. "So we just… go through?"

"I…I guess so." Nysa looked at the dark haired mage and gripped her hand. "We go together, or not at all."

Batalax nodded slowly, and the two girls stepped through the glowing gateway. The sight that greeted them had both girls looking around in wonder.

"Oh. My. Goddess."

"Wow…"

The floor looked to be made of crystal so pure it was completely clear. Through the layered crystal they could see fields upon fields of flowers with streams of the bluest water they had ever seen cascading onto the fields. Ophelia walked to the edge of the crystal floor and looked out into the distance. Beyond the fields of glowing flowers was a lake, a full moon shrouded in a blackened sky giving the place an eerie glow. "How do I make him show up?"

"Think about him…" Nysa replied slightly distracted, she had walked to the edge and her grandmother had appeared.

"He's not showing up! Why isn't he showing up!?"

Nysa glanced at her friend in shock, "Huh?" the thief moved to stand next to her friend. "Akail… where are you?"

"Why isn't he showing up?! Is it because he's not originally from here?" Batalax glared at the cheerful surroundings.

"No…If he's not showing up… it can only mean one thing."

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"Akail's alive."

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A/N- Sorry for the delay in updates, it's been a busy last two months, I just graduated from high-school, I'm working on preparing for college…and some of my closest friends are moving. Emily (Batalax) is moving in a couple days, and Karina (Tara) is moving at the end of the month. I have been trying to see them as much as I can before they are gone.

Oh, and I've been lazy. I've been reading fan-fiction but not writing. shrugs


	14. It's Never Really Over

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 10 or 10-2. I also do not own any of the other random cameos that show up in this fic. However, the main characters are based off of real people… but I don't own them... I just make fun of them.

Chapter: Thirteen.

**It's never really over!**

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The two girls grinned, Xander had taken them on a detour saying it was a treasure hunt' and for once…he was right! "Wow Xander! Was this here in the game?" Skye asked the third member of their little trio.

"Yeah. well, sort of." Xander looked around the small treasury in glee. "In the game there was only one treasure box--"

"--You mean to say we walked all this way for one treasure box?!" Tara cut him off with a glare. "You are _so_ very lucky there is more treasure here… because if we had taken this two hour detour for _one_ freaking treasure box, I would have killed you myself!"

Xander gulped and took a step back away from the angered Gun-mage; he did not want to be on Tara's bad side, it was a scary place to be. "Uhhh. Sooo Treasure anyone?" he asked in a slightly high pitched voice.

Skye grinned, now they were on a topic she enjoyed. "Let's open them up and collect our prizes!"

Tara nodded excitedly and walked over to the nearest chest. She opened it and stared at the contents in confusion, "Uhhh what are these?" she asked looking at the different colored spheres. "They look familiar but I'm drawing a blank."

Xander walked towards her and looked over her shoulder, "Holy shit!"

"What?!" Tara looked at him and then the spheres worriedly, "What are they?"

"They're something that should not even exist in this game!"

Tara frowned at him, "That being…what exactly?"

"Materia."

"Ohh, like the thing I equip to my boots?" she looked down at the green sphere attached to her boot, "So now I have ones I can replace it with? Awesome!"

Xander looked at her boots in shock, "How come you never told me you had that?"

Tara tilted her head in confusion, wondering why he was so upset about this, "You never asked." She replied.

"----Fuck yeah!"

Tara and Xander turned towards Skye, "What is it?"

"Sixty mega potions!" the assassin replied with a grin, "Here," she handed them each some, "Twenty each."

"We lucked out big time by coming down here." Tara looked to her friends, "What are we waiting for, let's finish opening them!" she smiled and went to the nearest unopened chest.

"Alright." Xander opened the next chest with a grin, "Oh, fifty thousand Gil."

"How do you know, did you count it?"

Xander sighed obtrusively, "It was an estimation Skye!"

"Right-o."

Tara closed her eyes in concentration, "Do you guys hear that?"

Skye closed the chest she was looking through, "I don't hear anything--- wait. Yes I do…What_ is_ that?"

"It sounds like something is scraping on the ground, almost like a large Machina is dragging its feet or something." Xander declared as if announcing the weather.

"A large Machina? Yeah, I guess it does sort of sound like that. Guess that means I'm up." She pulled out her guns and tuned to face the hallway the noise was coming from. "Here kitty kitty."

Skye looked anxious, "It sounds like the Machina has company..."

Xander nodded, he had heard it too. "Get ready." He whispered as he pulled out his sword and got into a fighting stance.

"Got it." Skye replied falling into stance beside him.

The Machina came into their sites and Tara frowned, "He brought friends."

Skye gulped, "Understatement."

"Yeah. He didn't bring friends." Xander looked at the fiends upon fiends that were blocking the door, "He brought a fucking army!"

Tara smiled sinisterly, "Then let's go to war." She dove into the fray shooting everything that moved. "Thundaga Bullet!" she grinned, "That takes care of the large Machina." she paused seeing ten more of the large Machina take the fallen Machinas place. "Or not." Tara frowned and continued to fight the seemingly never ending hoard of monsters. "There's no end to them." She whispered with dread as she gripped her gun a little bit tighter. "We're not going to make it out of here alive are we?"

"We're going to make it out of here alive." Skye looked over at Xander who was taking out every bad guy with one hit. "Xander, Tara. get behind me."

Xander frowned but followed her instructions anyway. "What are you---?"

"Tara, get behind me!"

Tara nodded slightly and kicked a fiend out of her way, killing it instantly. "Okay." She walked so she was standing next to Xander. "Now what?"

Skye gave them both a look as if trying to read their souls. "Trust me guys." She raised her hands and pointed them at the fiends; the fire flew through the enemy forces so fast seventy percent of them were pireflies before they even knew what was happening. Skye blinked rapidly and fell to the ground in exhaustion. "Anybody got a spare ether… or five?"

Tara blinked, "Whoa."

Xander shook himself out of his stupor and dug through his bag for some ethers, "Here Skye. Take it slow, you don't want to overdose." _Again,_ he added silently.

Tara looked towards the fiends, her teal eyes calculating. "It's still awhile before the next wave gets here, time enough for us to regroup." Tara pulled out one of her mega potions and threw it on the ground; the vapors rose into the air and latched on to the three of them, healing them of nearly all wounds. They had learned early on that throwing the mega potions and mega elixirs on the ground worked much better than passing them around. They had to be careful to do it when fiends weren't nearby though, or else they would be healing the enemy.

"Wave two." Skye whispered urgently. "I used up a good portion of my energy with that last attack. I won't be able to do it again."

Xander nodded. This meant they had to do things the hard way; his and Tara's physical attacks were stronger than the rest of the groups, but they only took out one fiend at a time. Tara's overdrive attack should take out more, but she hadn't figured out how to use it yet.

Tara looked around the small treasury in dread. There was no other way out other than the way they had came in. and it wasn't an option to go back out that way, at least until the fiends were gone. She sighed, "Let's do this thing."

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"Do I know you? You look vaguely familiar."

"I'm a friend of your sisters."

Rebecca looked at him with a perplexed expression, "Nate right? The internet friend?"

"It's Akail now… but yeah, that's me."

"So what do you want my help with?"

Akail frowned slightly, "I was dead for awhile… but now I'm not, and I need your help to find my friends."

"You were…dead?" The redhead gave him a skeptical look, "Does that make you an unsent thingy?"

"No!" Akail gasped, "Well...at least I don't think it does. I woke up at the last save point I had used."

"Where was that?"

"Remiem Temple." Akail pointed towards the window, "It's that way. Only us earthlings know where it is… and some unsent Bell-Gem-Mine lady." He smiled at Rebecca; "your sign caught my attention, so I came here."

Rebecca looked out the window towards her sign; it read BOBS: Where the coffee lives.' She looked at Akail with a proud expression on her face, "I made this place myself. Well actually I just sat around and told people what to do and where to put things… but it was all my idea." She grinned wistfully, "It was actually very, very cool having people do everything for me. Definitely something I could easily get used to." A crash in the kitchen caught her attention so she looked towards her assistant, "Cadmion go check on Topher and Aeliod."

"Yes Boss." Cadmion walked past the two mumbling incoherently about incompetent coworkers.

At Akail's inquiring look Rebecca explained the situation. "Topher and Aeliod are new."

"_Ahh_, newbie's," Akail replied as if it explained everything. which to him, it probably did. He looked around the nicely decorated coffee shop; almost every booth was full, "It's a busy place."

"Yeah. I wasn't sure in the beginning seeing as how it's in the middle of nowhere, but Rin convinced me; the only conditions of me starting this place was that it couldn't be an Inn."

"Why couldn't it be an Inn?"

"Because he has one of his many travel agencies about a mile east from here and it would lose all business if this was an inn as well as a coffee shop."

"Good point… But back to the you helping me thing. Can you?"

"I have no idea where they would be though."

Cadmion walked into the room with a worried look on his face, "Uhh. Boss?"

Rebecca gave Akail a helpless look and turned to face her employee, "What is it?" she growled.

"Uhh... Topher kind of... blew up the coffee maker."

Rebecca growled and held her hands out as if she was choking someone, she yelled, "Die, die, die, die, stab, stab, stab. **Burn**!" The redhead closed her eyes to calm down. When she opened them all the customers in the store were looking at her as if she had lost her mind. She shrugged sheepishly. "...that's just how I feel."

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Skye dodged and threw herself to the ground, "Xander!" She shrieked out in warning, "Get down!" with her sword pulled out she rolled and used her Slice and Dice' ability.

"Thanks!" Xander replied from his place on the ground, he looked around despairingly. "Where's Tara?"

"She's unconscious. We need to get these guys off our backs!" Skye looked towards the Gun-mage with worry; "I can't get to her without giving away my location!" she was currently hiding behind a large boulder.

Xander sighed, "I'll get her. Can you cover my back?"

Skye nodded. "Always."

Xander jumped out from his hiding place and made a mad dash towards the downed blond. "Okay. Phoenix down…phoenix down." Xander looked towards Skye, "Fuck! I'm out of phoenix downs!"

"Me too!" Skye replied while attacking six fiends at once. "We're screwed!"

"Eeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!"

Both teens looked up in surprise at hearing the loud war cry. "What the fuck was that?"

"Meteo-------"

"Are you trying to kill us all?! That spell can destroy the whole planet!"

"Oh. Oops?"

"Use Flare or Ultima or even a low level Comet spell. Just never use Meteor unless it's against Seymour... and even then it's a bad idea."

Skye and Xander shared a brief look, they recognized those voices!

"Alright." The mage dove off Bahamut with another loud war cry. "Ultima!"

The thief dismissed Bahamut and dove to the ground in a roll, "Holy!"

Xander blinked with a thoughtful look on his face. "Why didn't we think of flying Bahamut through the dome?"

Skye frowned, "Because you wanted to go on a treasure hunt!" she paused and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, "Erm, also because you're stupid!"

"Oh right." Xander looked towards Nysa, "Got any Phoenix downs? Tara's been out cold for awhile… and we didn't have anything to revive her with."

The thief nodded, "B! Give Tara a P.D pronto!"

"I'm on it." The mage struck one of the Attack Machinas with a lightning bolt and rushed towards Tara.

Xander watched as Nysa smirked and jumped into the fray, her daggers a blur of motion as they slashed through the fiends. When they had first come to Spira, her fighting skills were crude and rather reminiscent of a berserker; but now--- Nysa dodged the fiends attack gracefully and countered with a slash of her daggers, ---now it was a dance. Xander gave the rest of the group a quick once over; it was a dance of death that they all participated in… and excelled.

Skye and Tara were back to back using their individual skills; they were so fluid in their movements it actually looked choreographed. Xander chuckled slightly when he turned to watch Batalax. The mage was still very berserker like in her movements, but it was more controlled; she moved with a grace that only one with plenty of experience could pull off. Xander shook himself out of his musings, "Save some for me!" he charged the nearest enemy with a quick hit attack.

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"Phew, that was hard work." Skye sighed as she sat down to rest her feet.

"Yea it was... Can we do it again?" Batalax grinned as she bounced from foot to foot.

Tara and Xander shared an exasperated look. "B, are you using Haste again?"

"Yea B, I thought you were clean now!" Nysa continued.

"It's not a drug you guys!"

"You use it like one." Xander pointed out.

Nysa smirked. "Druggy Batalax!"

"Nu uh!"

"Yea hu!"

"Nu uh!"

"Yea hu!"

"Nu----- oh. Look! Treasure!" Batalax smiled cheerfully and skipped to an unopened treasure box.

"Can you say one-track-mind?"

Tara grinned, "Only for Batalax!"

Skye looked towards Batalax who was rifling through a treasure chest, "The treasure is why we were down here in the first place." She nodded to the group and went back to the treasure box she had been ransacking earlier.

"Did you know Tara has Materia?" Xander crossed his arms in an attempt to appear intimidating.

Nysa smiled at Xander, "Of course I know. Why do you ask?"

"---And you didn't tell me?"

Nysa tilted her head in confusion, unintentionally copying Tara's reaction from earlier. "You didn't ask."

Xander sighed. "Well, If that's how you're going to... oh forget it. I'm going for more treasure." He stalked away in a show of annoyance.

Nysa and Tara shared an amused look. Nysa glanced at her friends, "We should get heading to the dome... or with our luck, we'll miss Yuna and the rest completely."

"Alright."

"Good point."

"Must we?"

"Just let me finish excavating the treasure!"

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Before they knew it, the group had entered the dome leading to the cloister of trials. Looking around Nysa and Xander immediately picked out the differences between the game and the room they had just entered. For one thing, it was bigger, way bigger, and for another thing there was a body in the corner by the door leading to the next room. Wait… a body?

Nysa gasped and ran towards the downed guardian, recognizing him immediately. "Tidus!"

The blond Blitzball player blinked owlishly, barely conscious. "Ny-" he started only to brake off into a coughing fit.

Nysa held her hand up when he started to speak again. "Shh, don't speak." She placed a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. "It'll be alright Ty, Tara's getting good with her white magic." She gestured for the blond to start healing him.

Tara closed her eyes in concentration. The last two days she had been working on her white magic, but this was her first time using it on a serious issue. The gun-mage held her hands over Tidus, palms down. Focusing all her energy through her hands she cast her highest level healing spell. "Curaga!"

Xander blinked rapidly. All of Tidus's wounds were gone! "Wow Tara. That's like a mega Curaga!"

Tara grinned proudly. "You okay now Tidus?"

The Blitzer nodded and pushed himself into a sitting position. "They need help! We completed the trials and this huge guardian fiend came out of the tunnel. It's too strong! They're out of healing potions so when I got wounded so bad Wakka and Rikku dragged me out here. Please help them!"

Nysa nodded. "Okay here's the plan." The thief stood in front of the group like an army general. "Ophelia, you will need to cast Haste on all of us and if it wears off cast it again. The guardian is fast and if you don't get out of the way of his attacks its instant death. there's no blocking when it comes to his attacks." She turned her attention to the warrior of the group. "Xander, you have the strength but not the speed…even with the help of haste. Use your quick hit attack, it's the only one fast enough. unless you've gotten any better with your black magic?"

Xander frowned and shook his head.

"Right. Quick hit it is." She turned to the assassin. "Skye, use your fire abilities and quick attacks." Seeing the dark haired girls nod she continued. "Tara, your attacks are long range so you're vital to us pulling this off --- but you're also the best white mage we have. so stay with Tidus until he has recovered enough to join the fight."

The group all nodded. "Then let's move out."

"Wait!" A male voice cried out, "What do you want me to do?"

Batalax turned with a grin, she had hoped to hear that voice soon, she just never imagined it would be this soon. "Akail!" she tackled the assassin and hugged him as if he would disappear if she let go.

"Took you long enough." Nysa huffed trying to hide a grin.

The rest of the group stared in shock, "You…you're alive!"

Tara glared at Nysa and Batalax, "You two knew?!"

The two girls took a step back at Tara's angry tone of voice. "We found out. when we split up to…Uhh.. Get the iPod."

Nysa glanced at the mage wondering why she was still lying. "Uhh yea… but when we got here it was fighting time…and we just… forgot to mention it."

"Oh. Okay." Skye grinned and hugged Akail who was standing beside a big yellow chocobo. "Welcome back."

"Hey there." Xander waved.

"I'm glad you're not dead."

"Okay Akail," Nysa exclaimed taking control once again. "if you're feeling up to it, work with Skye. Your attacks are similar... and we really need to get going or they could die."

The male assassin nodded and smirked at Skye. "Try to keep up."

Skye glared. "You've been away for awhile so I'll let the comment slide... but in truth…it's you who's going to need to keep up."

Batalax followed the group into the room and started casting immediately. "Haste!"

Akail grinned as the spell infused him with energy. "Ultima!"

Nysa gave the assassin a shocked look, "When did you learn Ultima?"

Akail dove out of the way, the fiends attack missing him by centimeters. "Now's not the time Ny!"

"Right." She smiled sheepishly, "Holy!"

Xander waited for the haste spell to reach him and then jumped into the fray replacing the redheaded Blitzer. "Wakka, go into the other room, Tara will heal you!"

The Blitzer nodded slightly, he was having problems standing. "Thanks Brudda."

Nysa looked over towards the Spiran groups' summoner; she was swaying from exhaustion, "Yuna, go into the other room for healing," she looked over towards Rikku who was barely conscious, "Take Rikku with you!"

Yuna nodded slightly and pulled the wounded Al Bhed into the other room. "Thanks Nysa."

The part of ground Nysa was standing on started to glow, meaning it was about to blow her to smithereens. "Shit!" she jumped and rolled towards Lulu. "This guys going down!" she handed the older girl an ether. "You look like you need it." She smiled briefly before going back into a fighting stance.

"Haste!" Batalax smiled at Auron's halfhearted look of gratitude. "You looked like you could use a pick me up."

The unsents lip twitched as if he was fighting off a smile. Batalax grinned in victory.

Skye and Akail were shoulder to shoulder, their movements completely in sync even though they hadn't fought together since walking to the cave on Gagazet. Akail got a startled look on his face and backed away from the fight. "I can't believe I forgot." he pulled out his iPod and pressed play. Uematsu nobuo's song Saranai tatakau mono tachi (FFVII AC version) started blaring over the speakers. Akail grinned at Skye and joined the fight once more.

"Die!"

Tara grinned as Tidus ran past her into the fighting zone. "Guess that means it's my turn." she watched the blond and red headed Blitzer's join the fight. "Trigger Happy!"

Rikku looked at Yuna concernedly as they walked into the next room; her summoner still looked extremely exhausted. "Are you sure you're okay to join the fight again?"

Yuna smiled reassuringly. "I'm sure."

"Okay then." The two girls followed after gun-mage. Yuna stared at Tara with a faraway look on her face, "I want to be able to do something like that."

Rikku got a thoughtful look on her face, "We should stop the pilgrimage… you should become a gun-mage!"

Yuna smiled at her younger cousin sadly, "I'm sorry…" she walked away.

Kimahri's grin was feral. He used his scan spell and it showed the guardian fiend was almost dead.

Rikku frowned at Yunas retreating form and looked towards the Ronso. "My turn." She pulled out a musk and a lightning gem and combined them. "Thunder Blast!"

The guardian fiend erupted into pireflies.

"Woo! Good job Rikku!"

"Hurray!" Batalax grinned and embraced the blond thief, pulling the younger girl into a happy dance.

Rikku blushed, "I wasn't actually sure if that would kill it."

"Woohoo! That was amazing Rikku!" Wakka smiled at the blond.

Aurons voice cut through the improvised celebration. "We should get moving."

Tidus glared at the unsent, "Spoilsport."

"Sir Auron is right," Lulu placed her hand on Yunas shoulder. "Are you ready Yuna?"

"But wait!" Tidus glanced at Rikku in desperation.

"Yeah...Can't we wait a bit longer?" she continued.

"No, we need to go now." Yuna gave the two blondes a sympathetic look as she stepped onto the glowing Machina lift. Her words were strong, but it was the words she didn't say that the group paid attention to. _If she didn't go now, she wouldn't want to go at all._

Xander nodded at the soft-spoken summoner and waved the rest of the Spirans onto the lift, "We'll follow shortly, we just have some..." he paused, "...Stuff, to talk about."

Wakka nodded, "See you soon, ya?"

"Yes, real soon." Tara smiled at him.

Nysa smiled as the Spiran group disappeared down the hole and walked to stand next to the warrior of the earth group. "It's time to get rid of false hope, eh Xander?" she grinned, "Yunalesca is going down!" The thief took a step towards the lift and glanced back at the group, "My only worry at the moment is the fact that Yuna and her party are much weaker than they should be... it seems our involvement in their lives has done more harm than good."

"That may be so, but we have done some good right? I mean, we saved the Ronso, right?" Batalax gripped her Tikki anxiously, "We're not bad people…right?"

"Oh B..." Skye took a step toward the distraught girl, "We're here to help. That in itself makes us not bad."

"There's a quote that fits this situation... it's from one of my favorite shows back on earth." Nysa took a deep breath and looked the weary teenagers in the eye. "If you can't do something smart; do something right."

Batalax frowned, "But we're murderers! We've killed people, sure they were attacking us, but they were just doing their jobs and we killed them for it! ...How does that make us any different from the bad guys?"

"...Uhhh..." Akail looked around to see what the others thought of the situation and tentatively raised his hand, "Because we were chosen by the Fayth...the gods of this world... and if we let the bad guys kill us we would be going against what the Fayth want us to do?"

"Well... If you put it _that_ way..." Batalax grinned. "Let's go kill more stuff! I want to cast more destructive magic! Let's go, let's go!"

Tara shook her head in bemusement, "Only you B…Only you…"

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The group walked into the chamber of Fayth only to hear the end of the conversation.

"…Let me be your…liberator."

Nysa grinned cynically and walked towards the Spiran group. "And let me be your fashion critic," she glared at the scantily dressed unsent. "Because honey, you look awful."

"You dare speak to me this way!?"

"I do."

"You will die by my hand!"

Xander stepped forward, "No. We won't."

"No one will." Skye pulled out her sword.

"Never again will someone die for your false hope." Tara added as she clicked the safety off her gun.

"If you wore more clothes…you would be hot!"

"Akail!" Batalax hit him over the head with her Tikki, "Don't compliment the evil dead lady!"

"Gahh!!!" Nysa cried out, "Let's just kill her already!"

"Right. Game plan?"

Nysa paused in thought, "Everyone who can cast holy, step forward."

Tara, Batalax, Skye, Akail, Rikku, Yuna, Tidus and Kimahri stepped forward. Nysa's smile was feral. "Attack!"

"**HOLY**!" the group cast simultaneously.

Yunalesca barely had time to blink and she was dead…er. Nysa frowned, "That was somewhat disappointing…and anti-climatic…" she stepped forward and kicked the corpse. "Okay, I feel better now." She glared down at the corpse, "Loser."

Xander nodded in Aurons direction. "I hope you will find peace now that she is gone."

Auron smiled gruffly "Yuna, send her."

Yuna nodded. "Yes sir."

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A/N: So sorry for the delay, I got a new computer and the word processor completely messed up my story's format. I've spent the last three weeks fixing it, the next chapter should be out quicker though, I think there are only a few chapters left and it'll be done. I think I may write a sequel too, but it all depends on how the story ends. (I make everything up as I go.)


	15. Thus Spoke The Raven Nevermore!

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 10 or 10-2. I also do not own any of the other random cameos that show up in this fic. However, the main characters are based off of real people… but I don't own them... I just make fun of them.

Chapter: Fourteen.

**Thus spoke the raven; nevermore!**

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"Fuck you!"

Dana sighed; this was not going well at all! "Come on…It's true!"

"Get out of my house."

"But don't you want to see her?"

"Get _out_!"

Dana frowned slightly, "Really, why won't you just try it? What harm could it do?"

"You're crazy."

"Maybe I am… but I'm also right."

"You're not right. You're sick."

"She misses you. She's worried that you're going to move on while she's gone."

"Stop it!"

"…Grady, just try it!"

"No! I am not going to get stoned with you to visit my girlfriend who is trapped in a video game!" Grady glared, "Get out of my house!"

"But it's true! Sarah is now going by the name Skye Kane---"

"Skye Kane?" Grady looked confused. "I've heard that name before…" he walked over to his computer and typed the name _Skye Kane_ into Google. "Is this… is this real?" he glanced at Dana, "How is this possible?"

On the computer screen was a picture of a girl. She had black shoulder length hair, dark eyes, and she was wearing a black bikini top, a short wrap around brown skirt, with blue gloves and blue boots. It was an animated character, but Grady couldn't help but recognize her. It was Sarah.

"The others, what are the others new names?!"

Dana closed his eyes in concentration. "Tracy is now Nysa Croft, Emily is Batalax, Jarrod is Xander…Pan…Pain…Payne--- Xander P- something." He paused and glanced at the computer screen once more. "Karina is now Tara Adara, and their friend Nate is now Akail."

Grady typed the names in one by one, it was the same. All of the missing teens pictures showed up. "How did I not see the resemblance before?"

Dana gave Grady a confused look, "You mean you've seen them before?"

"It's like me memory of final fantasy ten is…rewriting itself." Grady looked at the screen once more, it was currently showing an icon of Tracy glaring at a man in a robe and then her throwing a gun at him, hitting him in the head and knocking him out cold. It was looped so it would play over and over again. Grady saved the icon to a folder and looked towards Dana. "So, you said we need to get stoned to be able to visit them?"

Dana smirked and nodded.

Grady frowned, "I don't even do pot," He paused, "Do you think drinking excessive amounts of alcohol would work?"

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Tidus walked into the chamber, "So, where do we go from here?"

"I don't know." Rikku gave the chamber a wary glance, "As long as it's far away from here… I couldn't care less. This place is scary, ya know?"

"Really?" Tara gave the blond a surprised look and gestured towards one of the many colorful pireflies. "I think it's pretty!"

"It _is_ pretty." Rikku grinned, "Pretty scary!"

Batalax gave Rikku a questioning look, "Why?"

"Because... although the pireflies are pretty, they're still dead people."

"Well, when you put it that way..." Batalax gripped her Tikki torch close, "Let's get out of here!"

"We'll be out of here soon B. The question now is, where do we go?" Skye looked towards Xander and Nysa who were conversing quietly in the corner.

"Well," Tidus followed Skyes line of vision and raised his voice so the two would hear him. "Where do we go now? _Supposedly_ you're both like all knowing… so where do we go?"

Completely ignoring his sarcastic tone of voice, the thief answered calmly. "The airship should be waiting outside of the ruins. We'll meet you guys there."

"Meet us there?" Yuna gave Nysa a confused look, "Are we not traveling together?"

"No..." Xander closed his eyes and concentrated on summoning Bahamut. "We're going to fly out, but you guys should walk…" he shared a look with Nysa. "You guys need more fighting experience."

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They had been flying for twenty minutes before Xander ordered Bahamut to stop and let them down. "We should wait here for the others…"

Nysa's eyes widened in realization and she nodded, "Good idea…I can't believe we forgot!"

"Forgot what?" Tara looked back and forth between the two of them, "What's going on?"

"Well…" Xander started.

"The airship isn't the only thing waiting outside for us…" Nysa continued.

"The Yevonites?"

Nysa shook her head. "Worse---"

"There's something worse than Yevonites?" Batalax asked sounding surprised, "Yevon help us!" she paused, "What's worse than Yevonites?"

Xander and Nysa shared a look. "Sin."

"Sin is waiting outside for us?!" Skye gripped her sword handle anxiously and discreetly looked around the entrance chamber for things they could use to blockade the large cave-like entrance.

"Then why are we going out there at all?" Akail glanced around warily, "I would really like to not die... again!"

Nysa's voice took on a lecturing tone, "In the game when Yuna and her party left the ruins, Sin was there but he didn't attack… but if we go out early, we might change something and he might attack."

"Isn't it possible that Sin may attack ether way?" Tara asked.

"Yea... but let's hope not." Nysa smiled nervously. "Xander," her eyes locked onto the warrior. "Take Skye and do a little reconnaissance, see if Sin's here yet."

"Right. Re-con. We're on it." Xander looked towards Skye, "Come on." the two stealthily made their way out of the building.

Tara watched the two leave and sighed. "I guess in the mean time we'll just have to let Akail in on our trade secret."

Nysa glanced at Tara in confusion, "What trade secret?"

"The art of merging with your Aeon."

"Ohh! _That_ trade secret."

Batalax glanced around the entrance chamber, she and Nysa hadn't gotten a chance to see the sites earlier on account of having to play hero to the rest of the group. The stone structure of the building was completely in ruins and it was overgrown with different plants, but it was also one of the prettiest places she had ever seen. The mage smiled, "It really is pretty here… On Earth you would be hard pressed to find a place like this…and even then it would never be abandoned…" Her smile turned grim, "No," she corrected herself, "the stupid humans would have turned it into an amusement park or--- or a museum of some sort."

"It's like the bumper sticker says!" Nysa scowled, "People make me pro-nuclear."

"Nuclear power… or, nuclear bomb?"

"Bomb of course!"

"So, Akail…" Tara changed the subject, "How did you know… _not_ die?"

Akail looked up from the piece of stone he was making float using his new power over air, "I woke up at Remiem Temple." Absentmindedly he added, "Beside the save point."

"Hmm…" Nysa tilted her head in confusion, "Is that where you got the chocobo?"

"No, I got the chocobo from the stable beside your sisters coffee place." He looked over at her, making the piece of stone drop to the ground, "She says Hi… And that she doesn't want you dead quite as much…because she now has--- and I quote— minions."

Nysa grinned, "That's my sister for you…"

"Sin _is_ here." Xander exclaimed, walking back into the room with Skye.

"Damn." Nysa cursed. "Is he as big as he was in the game?"

Xander frowned, "Bigger. _Way_ bigger."

"…How much bigger?"

"A lot."

Batalax frowned, "But how big is bigger? I've never seen the Sin of the game, smaller or not…" She grabbed Skye's arm. "How big is it?!"

"How big is what?" Wakka asked, walking into the entrance chamber.

"I thought we were meeting you all outside…that the airship was waiting for us…" Rikku gave them a perplexed look.

"Change of plan."

Skye nodded in Xander's direction. "Big change of plan…Sin's waiting outside."

"Sin?!"

"But what about the airship?!" Rikku gave the group a panicked look, "My pops and Brother are on that ship!"

"So are most of the Al Bhed!"

"Then let's be quick."

"Sin didn't attack in the game… but we've changed some things…"

"Sooo… yeah. Let's be quick."

Batalax frowned, "Then what are we waiting for?"

The group pulled out their weapons and exited the ruins. As Xander and Skye had said, Sin was waiting. "Where's the airship?"

"There it is!" Tara pointed to the right; the airship was slightly behind Sin. "The question now is… how do we get past Sin?"

"Luck?" Nysa asked.

"_Great._.." Skye replied dully. She glanced over the mismatched group, "We're doomed."

"No, not doomed..." Akail sheathed his sword, "Just a little inconvenienced."

"I have an idea!" Rikku started singing the hymn of the Fayth. Understanding what she was doing, Xander, Nysa, and most of the Spiran group joined in. All Sins pent up violence seemed to fade away as the large beast calmed.

"So what, the big evil fishy likes Yevons theme song?" Batalax grimaced, "Is bad taste catchy or something?"

Nysa glared and playfully smacked the mage on the head, "I happen to like that song!"

The two groups carefully bypassed the now calm Sin and climbed into the airship, Batalax smirked and mumbled, "Exactly. Bad taste."

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"So where are we heading to now?" Akail asked quietly as he examined the interior of the ship.

"Well, the Spiran group is going to attempt to obtain their ultimate weapons, but seeing as we already have ours..." Xander smirked, "Who's up for a little fiend bashing?"

"Me! Me! Pick me!"

Xander gave the mage an amused look, "It was rhetorical."

Skye bounced around the room, "Hehe, Xander said a big word!" She grinned and ran off to watch the Al Bhed Psychs practice.

Batalax blinked rapidly, "Is she high?"

Xander gave her a serious look, "Maybe."

"I've got an idea," Tara exclaimed as she walked into the room. Both guys and Batalax nodded and gestured for her to continue. "We have literally flown all over Spira... But never together... So I propose we have Cid drop us off in Besaid... and then we can go from there."

Akail smirked, "Good plan, and I'm sure B will be thrilled to see Luzzu. If we do this though... I think we should walk... Bahamut draws far too much attention – we are on the run from Yevon after all..."

"Okay, you and Ophelia have both mentioned this 'Luzzu' person now. Who is she, and how does B know her?" Tara crossed her arms and gave the assassin a suspicious look.

"He. Luzzu is a he." Xander glanced at Akail, forgetting he knew next to nothing about the game. "I'm guessing Gatta died and Luzzu lived?"

"Yea...I guess so." Akail shrugged. He looked towards Tara, "Oh, and Luzzu is Batalax's lover!" his voice was raised so Batalax would overhear from her place across the room.

"Akail!" Batalax cried out, "I barely even know him yet!" She blushed.

Tara squealed and ran towards Batalax, "Yet? You don't know him..yet? Squee! You really like this guy don't you? When do I get to meet him? Where does he live? How old is he?" Tara grinned, "Does he know you like him? Does he like you too?"

"Well..." Batalax smiled dreamily, "One of the first things I said to him was that the place he lived was pretty... and guess what he said?" Batalax beamed.

"What did he say?" Tara grinned at the Mages happy smile.

"He said that..." Batalax blushed again, "He said that my beauty put the place to shame!"

Tara squealed again, "Seriously? ---"

"---I know. It's a lame pick-up line... but he sounded _so_ sincere!" she grinned again, "I also heard him call me a 'delightful lady'" She giggled, "He thinks I'm delightful!" this time her laugh was slightly evil sounding.

"Delightful?" Tara smirked, "How strange."

Batalax hit the gun-mage playfully, "And then... when the Yevonites stormed the village looking for me and Akail... Luzzu warned us...and I kissed him goodbye!"

"You kissed him?!" Tara grinned playfully, "You slut!" she ducked Batalax's Tikki torch with a laugh, "What happened then?"

Batalax put her Tikki back in it's place, "Then Akail was shot," She paused and glared at Akail across the room, "And I cast a very powerful spell... I was in shock...so I don't remember what I cast... other than the fact that as I cast it... Luzzu ran into the clearing."

"My goddess... was he okay?"

"Yea... as soon as he saw I was in the middle of casting a spell...he ran the opposite direction... he still ended in with a broken arm though..." She smiled guiltily, "I'm lucky I didn't kill him."

Tara leaned forward on her seat, completely enthralled in the story, "What then?"

Batalax smiled, "I nursed him back to health, called you guys...and then left." she grinned, "He tried to stop me...and then said he was coming with us..." She stopped.

"And...? Then what happened?"

"I said no."

"No? Just like that?"

"Yep."

"Then what?"

"I said I would be back, and that I needed to know he was safe... then I hugged him and ran towards where you guys were fighting Seymour." She spat the name out like a curse. "I may have also... shouted that I loved him..."

Tara squealed and embraced her friend. "I'm so happy for you!"

"Hehe, me too." Batalax smiled sheepishly, "Although I may have...accidentally shouted it in Al Bhed."

"You didn't!"

"I did."

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Rikku gasped, "Pid tuh'd oui fyhd du ku pylg du ouin rusa uhla drec ec ujan fedr?"

"Hu. Famm, oac... pid E lyh'd." She smiled grimly and corrected herself, "Hu--- E fuhd." Her voice became sad. "Rana eh Spira E's vnaa... yht raymdro. Pylg rusa... E fych'd adran uv druca. E fyc celg, yht dra tuldunc luimth'd lina sa... pid rana... E's vnaa du zicd pa...sa. Nysa; Tracy... Fruajan E fyhd du pa."

Rikku nodded, "E drehg E ihtancdyht... pid yna oui cina drec ec fryd oui fyhd?"

Nysa nodded. "E ys."

"Fryd ypuid ouin vneahtc?"

"E'mm secc dras. Pid so meva ec rana huf. Pacetac, E drehg E luimt tu cusa naym kuut rana."

"Fryd tu oui bmyh uh tuehk uhla drec fruma Sin bnupmas ec ujan yht tuha fedr?"

The thief smiled, "E fyc drehgehk syopa E luimt ramb oui bnuja dryd dra Al Bhed ynah'd dra pyt kioc --- Un syopa ramb napiemt ouin baubma'c Home."

"Naymmo? Oui fuimt tu dryd vun ic? Pid fro? E sayh... Oui'na hud Al Bhed..."

"Palyica oui'na so vneaht. Vneahtc ramb aylr udran."

"Vneahtc...? Naymmo?" Rikku smiled shyly, "E's kmyt du pa ouin vneaht."

Nysa smiled back at her, "E's kmyt vun y mud uv drehkc... E zicd fecr fa ryt kuddah rana cuuhan... syopa fa luimt ryja cdubbat dra Yevonites vnus yddylgehk Home..."

"Oui luimth'd ramb ed dryd oui fana pnuikrd rana dryd myda... E tuh'd drehg oui luimt ryja tuha yhodrehk yhofyoc... hu uvvahca... pid dra Yevonites uidhispan ic uh yh abel clyma."

"Rikku... Bmayca tuh'd damm yhouha dryd E tuh'd bmyh uh nadinhehk rusa... E's hud nayto vun dras du ghuf."

"Ymnekrd."

Tidus walked into the small room, "Hey Rikku!" he nodded towards the dark haired thief. "Hello Nysa."

"Hiya."

"Hey Ty. What's the what?"

Tidus gave her a confused look, "What do you mean by that?"

Nysa sighed, no one ever understood her Buffy quotes, except for Tara of course. "It means what's new."

"Oh." he blinked. "Nothing much. Hey, did you know that your friend Batalax likes Luzzu?"

"Who's Luzzu?" Rikku asked with a smile.

"B likes Luzzu? I thought there was something going on between the two of them!"

Rikku scowled, "But who is he?"

Nysa replied, "Tall, Red-head, I think he was a Chocobo Knight, or a Crusader... I can't for the life of me remember which one..."

"Crusader." Tidus added.

"Right! I knew that!"

"So, Batalax likes this guy?"

"I guess so, how did you find out Tidus?"

"I overheard her talking to Tara... there was a lot of squealing and giggling."

Nysa frowned slightly, "And I missed it? Damn." Then she grinned, "So what's with Wakka and Lulu? There's so much sexual tension between the two of them you could cut it with a knife!"

The two blond Spirans gave her horrified looks. "What?" She asked, placing her hands in the air as a show of innocence, "I was just stating the obvious!" Quickly she added, "Never tell them I said that or I'll kill you so dead... you'll be...well..." she paused thoughtfully.

"Really dead?" Rikku added helpfully.

"Yea! You'll be that!" Nysa grinned, happy with her statement.

"Right. No telling." Tidus grinned, "But what if I just happen to... let it slip?"

"Dead I tell you! Dead!" Nysa grinned, she had missed this playful banter... it was weird, she felt as if she had known Tidus and Rikku her whole life.

"_Nysa?_"

The thief blinked and looked around the room, "Did you guys just call my name?"

"No..." Rikku gave the thief a weird look.

"_It's me. Tara,"_

Nysa laughed, realizing it was her Com-Sphere, she looked towards the two Spirans, "Hold on, I gotta take this." She stepped away from the two blonds, "Hey Tara, what can I do you for?"

"_Where are you? We have a new game plan._"

"I'm on the lower deck, in the room behind where the Al Bhed Blitzball Players are."

"_Is Skye with you_?"

"No, she's in the next room."

"_Can you grab her and head up to the bridge?_"

"Alright, I'm on my way." She ended the call. "Sorry Rikku, Ty, I gotta run. I think my group figured out what is is we're going to do." She grinned and gave a half wave before leaving the room.

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"So what's the plan?" Skye asked as she and Nysa walked onto the bridge.

"I think we should travel the world." Tara exclaimed.

"But we already have..." Skye frowned.

"Yeah... we have. But never together."

Nysa grinned, "I love it! Where should we start?"

"I was thinking we should start in Besaid."

"I don't know..." Xander frowned in thought, "I think we should do the pilgrimage backwards. As in, start in Zanarkand, and finish in Besaid."

Tara nodded, "Good idea... can't have us doing things the normal way."

"But what about Sin? Isn't he currently residing in Zanarkand?" Skye asked.

Xander shook his head. "No, Sin rarely stays in one spot for more than an hour."

"So, Zanarkand it is." Akail exclaimed.

"I'll tell Aniki." Nysa smiled, and went over to the pilot.

"Aniki?" Xander gave her a confused look.

Nysa looked back at him, "It's Brothers actual name."

"Oh." Xander turned away to talk to Skye.

"Rao Aniki---"

"Lymm sa Brother... Ajanouha tuac." The eccentric Al Bhed grinned. "Fryd tu oui haat? E ys hud jano kuut yd vmoehk, cu tuh'd tecdnyld sa."

"Cunno du pudran oui. Lyh oui tnub sa yht seha uvv eh Zanarkand?"

"Cina."

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"So this is goodbye for now?" Rikku looked down sadly.

"Yeah... But it's not goodbye forever." Nysa embraced the blond Al Bhed.

"Hey, wait. You have a Com-Sphere right?"

Nysa nodded, "Yeah, Tara, B and myself all have one."

"Cool. If you ever want to talk, call me."

"You used your name as your access code right?"

Rikku nodded, "Did you?"

"Yeah, I used Nysa, Tara used Tara, and Batalax used Batalax."

"Cool. Just making sure... I know some people who use nicknames, some even use numbers!" She gave Nysa an amused look, "Why would anyone use numbers to call people... That's just silly." She giggled.

Nysa blinked. "Right. Numbers... Who would do something like that?" Silently she added, _other than nearly every single person on Earth._

"Bye everyone!" Nysa smiled at the Spiran group, "Have Rikku call us if you guys need help." She turned to look at her friends who were saying their own goodbyes. _Gods...I'm going to miss them..._

The group watched as the airship flew away. Akail smirked, "Let's get this show on the road!"

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A/N: Again, sorry for the delay in updating... The next chapter should be up faster as I've already got around ten pages of it done.


	16. The Road To Enlightenment

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 10 or 10-2. I also do not own any of the other random cameos that show up in this fic. However, the main characters are based off of real people… but I don't own them... I just make fun of them.

Chapter: Fifteen.

**On The Road To Enlightenment!**

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"Why did I let you talk me into this?" Skye complained, "It didn't seem this far when we were flying..."

"That's because our speed was like quadruple what we're doing right now" Akail grumbled. The group had been walking for around three hours and they were only just leaving Zanarkand. Gagazet loomed up ahead in all of it's icy glory.

Xander bounced ahead and started walking backwards so he could be facing the group as he talked. "Once we get to the cave, we should figure out a cover story... and maybe fake identities... We _are_ on the most wanted list after all..."

Batalax looked confused, "What cave?"

"The one on Gagazet... with Nysa's Charm Bangles." Xander replied.

"Oh yeah! I had forgotten about them!"

Tara and Nysa were talking quietly a bit behind the group, it had been a while since they had gotten the chance to talk like this. The gun-mage yawned and looked ahead with dread, "I'm not looking forward to this climb... The fiends here have really annoying status effects."

"Yeah... although it _was_ funny when that one eyes thing made Akail so confused he kept throwing down his sword and exclaiming that he was late for class."

The blond grinned, "Oh- oh! And when Auron got _Confuse_ and _Berserk_ cast on him--"

"--And he started acting as if his sword was a guitar!" Nysa finished with a giggle.

Tara laughed, "Yeah, that _was_ pretty funny, wasn't it."

"A bit. Yeah." Nysa looked towards the others to make sure they weren't listening in on their conversation. "Okay, now that we're alone..." she paused, "Well, as alone as we're going to get..." Nysa gave the blond a concerned look, "How are you Tara..."

"I'm fine."

Nysa frowned, "Seriously. How are you? What are your thoughts... I mean, we're living in a freaking video game, you must have some thoughts towards thi---"

"---We are _not_ living in a video game! We're being held prisoner! This-" she gestured around them, "--This is _not_ living."

It was now or never, "Tara... When this is over... I'm not leaving with you guys. I'm staying here."

"_**What**_?!"

The rest of the group turned to look at the two of them, "What's with the yelling Tara?"

Nysa send the blond a pleading look, silently begging her not to tell the others.

Tara gave the thief a sad look, "Nothing." she replied. "Nysa just was telling a joke... that will never be repeated..._Right_ Nysa?"

"E's cunno Dyn, I make no promises."

Tara gave Nysa a betrayed look and walked faster leaving the thief alone at the back of the group. "So what's new with you fast walkers?" She addressed towards Skye and Batalax.

The two girls gave each other wary looks, "Nothing. But what about you and Nysa... are you guys fighting or something?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Are you sur--"

Tara turned on them, her eyes showing her anger, "I said I don't want to talk about it!" She glanced back at Nysa who was talking with Akail as if nothing was wrong, as if she wasn't planning on abandoning her best friend. Tara pushed all thoughts of the imminent betrayal from her mind and smiled at Skye. "So, did you hear about B here's lover?"

"Lover?!" The dark haired assassin turned to look at the mage, "You have a lover?" she squealed and hugged the mage, going so far as to pick her up and spin her around. "Tell me _everything_!"

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"So what's up with you and Tara?" Xander asked carefully.

"...I told her something she didn't want to hear. Something I fear you'll all hate me for." She looked down sadly.

"We wouldn't ever hate you, right Xander?" Akail sent the warrior a warning look.

"Right. Unless you joined up with Seymour... we may hate you a bit if you did that."

Nysa giggled, "I'd hate _myself_ if I joined up with that blue haired freak!"

"So we're all good." Akail smiled.

Nysa sighed and looked over at Tara who was chatting happily with Batalax and Skye. "I hope you're right..."

"So what is it you told her anyway?" Xander asked.

"...I-- I'll tell you later."

"Alright..." He glanced up, "hey look!" He pointed ahead of the group, "The cave!"

"Whoa, I hadn't realized we had walked this far." Skye exclaimed.

"...We haven't." Nysa whispered warily. "This cave wasn't here last time."

Akail looked between the cave and Nysa, "Are you sure?"

Nysa pushed down the feeling of dread she was feeling. "I'm _way_ sure."

"So should we just...go around it?" Batalax asked.

Skye grinned. "I think we should explore it!" she took a step towards the cave.

"I dunno guys..." Nysa whispered anxiously. "Something about this just... doesn't feel right."

"I say we go for it." Tara exclaimed sending a glare in Nysa's direction. She needed to go into that cave and _no one_ was going to stop her.

Skye pouted, "Come on Nysa! It'll be just like old times! When we used to climb the mountain back at home, remember how we used to find strange caves all the time? You were always the first one to go in. What's changed?"

"Maybe it's the fact that back home when we went into a cave, all we had to worry about was some cobwebs and maybe if we were really unlucky, a bear ---But here? There could be _anything_ in that cave... and I have a feeling it's something _really_ not good."

"Come on Nysa! We really want to go. Please?" Akail looked towards the cave longingly, "It'll be great!"

"Yeah Nysa, where's your sense of adventure?" Xander frowned.

"I think I may have lost it when one of my best friends died!" Nysa growled sarcastically.

"Hey!" Akail frowned, "I came back didn't I?"

"That's not the point! The point is that we really don't want to go into that cave! Can't you guys feel the bad vibes this place is giving off? There might as well be a large sign that says 'Cave of Evil -free tours every Tuesday and Thursday, all of which lead to your immanent doom!'" Nysa frowned, "Just looking at the place makes my skin crawl."

"Stop being so dramatic." Tara frowned, "And you're wrong. It's not _we_who don't want to go in the cave... it's _you_." The gun-mage looked her best friend in the eye, "And personally, I'm getting sick of you calling the shots."

"What? We've made all of our decisions together!"

"Yeah, but you always get the final say, don't you?" Skye whispered.

"What? No! You guys ask my opinion on the matter and I give it. If you disagree with what I say, just say so. My word's not law." Nysa frowned. "What's going on guys? Why are we fighting like this?"

"We're not. You are." Akail accused. "We already decided what we want to do... and your fighting our decision."

"No... I just don't want you all to get hurt! And that caves bad news!" She looked towards Skye, "You've always trusted my judgment... what's changed?"

"You have. I think the power you hold here has gotten to your head."

"_What?!_" Nysa actually took a step back in her shock.

"You have been distancing yourself from us for a while now..." Batalax gave the thief a concerned look. "What's going on with you?"

"Nothing is going on with me! Why are you all turning on me?"

"We're not. It's you who's turning on us." Tara growled. "We're going in the cave. Now, are you coming with us or not?"

Nysa looked down sadly. "I'm sorry. I can't go in there."

Skye frowned. "Then this is goodbye." she turned and started walking towards the cave, the others following close behind.

Batalax frowned. "Guys, we can't just leave her! Why are you all being so mean?"

Tara glared. "If you don't want to come, then leave!"

"Fine! I will!" Batalax turned and stalked off in the direction Nysa was walking.

Xander looked back and forth between Nysa and the cave, "I choose the cave." he gave a half apologetic look in Batalax's direction and walked towards Tara. "Well, now that that's over with... let's check this place out." Xander grinned and entered the cave, the others right behind him. As soon as they were all in the cave, the entrance sealed itself leaving them in darkness.

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"Nysa! Nysa wait up!" Batalax called after her friend who was walking away from the cave as fast as she could. "Nysa! Stop!"

Nysa slowed her pace, angrily wiping her eyes. "What now..." she growled to herself.

"Nysa-" The mage paused to catch her breath, "Why you gotta walk so fast? I've been calling you for the past fifteen minutes."

"I'm sorry Ophelia." Nysa replied, her eyes cast downward.

Batalax blinked and then quickly pulled her friend into a hug, "I don't really know what happened back there... are you okay?"

"I don't know yet. All I know for sure is that the cave they went into is really bad news." She glanced at the mage desperately... "Gods... I know it's a bad place and I just... left them to fend for themselves... what if they get hurt? What if they die?!"

"They wont... and Nysa?" the mage glanced ahead of them, "I think we need to worry more about ourselves right now."

"Wha--" the thief blinked, the slope was crawling with Yevonites, and they were all looking in their direction. "Oh."

"Weapons out, you reckon?"

"Yeah... I think we'll need them." Nysa closed her eyes briefly to center herself.

Batalax cast haste on herself, "are you ready for this?"

"Yes." Nysa's eyes snapped open, "Yes I am."

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Tara blinked in confusion. "Where are we?"

Xander frowned, "I think... we're in a cave."

"Are you sure? My memory is kind of... fuzzy." Skye grimaced, "Was there a fight?"

"Yeah... With Nysa... and maybe Batalax?" Akail frowned. "I remember being really angry with Nysa...because she..." He blinked. "She wanted to do something or--- or she disagreed with us about something-- I... I can't remember."

"So, we know we're in a cave on Gagazet, we know we got into a fight with Nysa...and maybe Batalax seeing as she isn't here." Tara squinted trying to examine their surroundings, "What else?"

"I remember wanting to come into this cave... As if I _needed_ to be here."

Skye frowned, "Me too..." she paused thoughtfully, "I can't remember why though..."

Xander looked in the direction he heard Skye's voice coming from, "Think you can give us some light?"

Skye nodded even though she knew they couldn't see her. She held her hands out and concentrated on her power over fire. "Guys..." Her voice held a note of panic in it, "I can't--- my magic's not working!"

Akail tried to cast a mild fire spell... nothing happened. He scowled, "Mine isn't working ether."

"What else can we use for light?"

"I have some fire gems..." Skye reached into her bag to grab them, "Do any of you have the Use ability? Because I don't."

"I do." Xander replied, taking the four gems from her and activating them, causing the room to light up with an eerie red glow. "Alright... that helps us how exactly?" The room they were in was completely circular in shape with no exits anywhere.

"Guy... do fire gems take up air? Because if they do...maybe we should turn them off so we don't all die of asphyxiation... I want all my deaths to mean something."

"You mean you plan on dying again, Akail?"

The assassin smirked, "I'm so hot, people are bound to shoot at me out of jealousy... I can't help it." He shrugged.

"Wow, you're ego sure has grown." Tara scowled.

"**You have failed the test."**

"We have? Wait...what test?" Tara asked in confusion, "And why is the room talking to us?" she added as an afterthought.

"How did we fail the test...What _was_the test?" Xander asked, glancing around the room in confusion.

Bahamut appeared in the center of the room, **"The test of loyalty.**" The child Fayth gave them all disapproving looks. **"You have one chance of redemption, or you shall forever hold the burden of guilt."**

"I don't understand ---What's going on?!"

"**I'm sorry." ** a bright blue flash of light filled the room and when it went out, the room was empty.

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The Yevonites were being led by Seymours right hand man Sterge, and he looked angry. "Surrender now, traitors of Yevon!"

Batalax smirked, "I think not, foolish mortal!"

Nysa mouthed the words _foolish mortal_ sending a strange look in the mage's direction. She smirked and sheathed her daggers, "I think it's time to show them what we can do...without weapons."

Batalax nodded approvingly "Hmm... sounds fun."

Nysa took a step forward and addressed the small army, "Leave now, while you still have the chance... I don't want to kill you."

Sterge gave her an angry look and glared at his men, "What are you men waiting for?! Attack the traitors!" the Yevonites nodded and started firing their guns towards the girls.

Nysa blinked and pulled Batalax to the side so the bullets wouldn't hit them. "Okay, what now?

"We need to get closer," B whispered urgently from behind the ice blockade Nysa had made to stop the bullets from hitting them.

"I have an idea." she placed her hand on the blockade and turned the ice clear. "I'm going to transport us into the middle of them, any preferences on exactly where I should place us?"

"No... but how are you going to transport us? Can you do that?"

"I'm going to turn the blockade over and we're going to use it as a snowboard."

Batalax looked perplexed and then grinned. "Oooh this is going to be so fun! But how do we get them to not shoot us as we're sliding down?"

Nysa smirked, "distract them with a storm."

Batalax smirked. "It would be my pleasure." She looked towards the sky and concentrated on creating lightning.

"Ready...one, two, three!" Nysa pushed the blockade over and the two girls jumped on.

At first the ride was fun, until Batalax accidentally dropped her Tikki,_Oh my god! How do we stop this thing?! We're gunna die! _Out loud, Batalax started screaming.

Nysa pulled the block of ice to a startling stop by making them run into a barrier made of ice. "Please stop screaming! We'll rescue George once we defeat these annoying Yevonites!" she looked at the Yevonites, "I think you made her angry."

Batalax nodded with a sinister grin on her face... "You shall be punished." She pointed her finger at a group of Yevonites, "**Firaga**."

The group fell to the ground in a smoldering heap. Sterge frowned, "What are you waiting for?! Attack them!" He pulled out a sword and charged at Nysa.

Ten minutes later it was just Sterge and Nysa fighting, and the thief was winning. "I thought you said you didn't want to kill us?" he looked at her daggers fearfully.

Nysa sighed, "I said I didn't want to... I didn't say I wouldn't."

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Shiva glared, "**Why pray tell, did you do **_**that**_"

"**Yes. Why would you destroy our one chance at freedom so carelessly**?" Valafor cried out in shock, "**I don't understand**!"

"**Bahamut, what have you to say about this**?" Ixion asked.

"**I had to see if they would stand by our chosen one---**"

"**How did sending them away accomplish this**?" Ifrit growled.

"**I cast a mild compulsion spell on everyone in the group but our chosen... the goal was to see who would fight it and stand by our chosen one... I am... saddened, at how many could not fight it**."

"**What are we to do now**?" Yojimbo glared at the child fayth, "**You have sentenced us all to destruction**!"

"**All is not without hope...**" Anima replied assuredly, "**Bahamut would not have done this without having a backup plan**." She sent Bahamut a look that said _don't you dare prove me wrong! _

Bahamut nodded. "**I have chosen replacements**."

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Ophelia and Nysa sat down on the icy ground, "That was annoying."

"Yeah." Batalax grinned tiredly, "But hey, I got Tikki George back!"

Nysa smiled and leaned against her friend, "I noticed that you don't actually need it---" Batalax glared, so she corrected herself, "I mean I noticed that you don't actually need _him_ anymore to cast your spells." Nysa looked at the clouds of pireflies surrounding them, "Yeah...definitely don't need George to fight your battles..."

Batalax smiled, "You didn't do so bad yourself... I still can't believe you stole Sterge's gun though..."

"I thought it could come in handy." Nysa pushed herself to her feet and held her hand out for Batalax. "Come on, we should prolly head towards the cave, it's not far now... If we're lucky we can make it there by nightfall."

Batalax allowed herself to pulled to her feet, she looked around tiredly and scowled, "It better be close...I'm freaking tired!"

"No worries, we're flying there." Nysa grinned and summoned Bahamut. Both girls climbed onto the dragon and allowed him to carry them to the cave.

The two girls smiled in relief when the cave came into view, Nysa dismissed their dragon as Batalax led the way into their sanctuary for the night

Nysa placed her fire gems around the area to warm the place up while Batalax set up a tent, "So should we wait here...or go back to that cave tomorrow and look for the others?"

Batalax sighed, "We'll decide in the morning, okay?"

"Works for me..." Nysa grinned, "Hey, did you know that theres a hot spring a bit further into the cave?"

Batalax grinned back at her friend, "How about we go...investigate it?"

Nysa laughed, "Let the investigation commence!"

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With the light came four figures, all landing on the ground unceremoniously in a tangled pile. "Eugh..." Skye groaned from her place at the bottom of the pile, wow, deja vu. "Can you all get off of me?!

Tara blinked, also feeling a sudden case of deja vu, "Yea, I second that." she replied, attempting to push the two guys off her so she could get off Skye. "God Xander —your fat!" Xander rolled off her grumbling about not getting paid enough for this.

Akail stood up and backed away giving Xander a weird look, "Okay, Deja vu. Where are we?"

Tara stood up and looked around, it was clearly abandoned, the ground was cement, although it was so overgrown it was hard to see. She recognized this place. "Oh my god!"

Skye pushed herself to her feet, she too recognized the area. "Is this where I think it is?!"

Xander looked around with an awestruck look on his face, and pointed to one side, "Is that the puddle of excitement?!"

Tara nodded, she was in shock. This was _Camelot_! Tara smiled and whispered, "Camelot."

"Camelot?" The American gave her a confused look, "You guys know this place?"

"Yeah... It's an abandoned tennis court... Me and Nysa named it Camelot in ninth grade..." Tara looked around in awe. "We're on Earth."

"We're home."

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A/N Sorry for the short update...and the delay. I have a case of writers block (I think that's obvious by how this chapter came out...)


	17. Abandonment

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 10 or 10-2. I also do not own any of the other random cameos that show up in this fic. The small amount of lyrics are from the band Epica, which I (quite obviously) do not own. However, the main characters are based off of real people… but I don't own them... I just make fun of them.

Chapter: Sixteen.

**Abandonment!**

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"I can't believe it... we're really home?" Skye whispered looking around Camelot.

"We are. I would recognize this place anywhere." Tara grinned and spun around happily, "We're home!"

Akail gave the small group a dismayed look, "But why would I be sent here? I live in a different country."

"Maybe whatever sent us home didn't know that." Xander replied as he looked around worriedly. "But guys... we have a problem... a big one."

"What?"

"We do?"

"Bring it on!" Akail pumped his fist into the air challengingly.

Xander frowned, "Guys... where's Nysa and Batalax?"

"They're waiting for us at the cave---" Tara gasped, "They're still in Spira!"

"Crap!" Skye breathed in heavily, "What are we going to do? --What _can_ we do?"

"Uhh... what about Nysa's cousin Dana?" Akail grinned smugly, he was a genius! "He visited us when we were in Spira... So couldn't he take us back--"

"--Take us back?!" Tara cried out in anger, "Are you fucking kidding me?!" She glared at the group as if daring them to rebuke her. "There's no way in hell that we're going back there. I mean guys...we're finally home, this is what we wanted--- hoped for... and you just want to give it up?"

"But what about Nysa and Batalax? We can't just leave them there to fight Sin on their own! We're a team!" Skye replied back sounding equally as angry and frustrated, "No...they're not just our team mates, they're our friends; and friends don't leave other friends to fight horribly disfigured giant fish things on their own."

"I agree." Akail whispered.

Xander stopped looking at the puddle of excitement for a second to glance at his American friend, "Which one do you agree with?"

Both girls sent him a warning look, "Uhh... I mean... ---err..." He sent both girls a sheepish look, "What do you think we should do Xander?"

"I think we need to rescue Batalax and Nysa... knowing those two they're probably doing something that involves a lot of danger...and we're not there to back them up. They're probably missing us terribly... and they may even need Tara's white magic to heal them!" Xander nodded. "Yeah, they most definitely need our help."

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"Geronimo!" Batalax cried out as she jumped off the ledge into the hot spring.

"Squeeee!!" Nysa cried out in shock, "You got me all wet!"

Batalax looked at her friend and spoke as if talking to a young child, "Nysa... you're waist deep in water... you're already wet."

The thief smiled sheepishly, "Oh... good point." She laughed, "The others are sure missing out; this place is awesome." She gave her friend a smug look, "and at this point in time... me and you are most likely the only people who know of the springs existence." Seeing the mages confused look she added, "For some reason the Ronso are forbidden from coming in here until the second game."

"You're wrong!" Batalax called out in a dismayed voice.

Nysa looked up bemusedly, "I am?"

"Yeah," the mage giggled, "Tikki George knows where it is too!" She pointed towards her infamous Tikki torch, "I think he's enjoying himself, don't you?"

Nysa glanced over at the Tikki torch floating in the water, "Err... yeah... He looks like he's having a blast." she frowned slightly, "But isn't being in water kind of... bad for something made out of wood?"

Batalax's eyes went wide and she quickly swam towards her Tikki, "George! I'll save you!" She grabbed the torch and swam to the shore, "Grr... If only Akail was here... he could use his power over wind to blow-dry George."

"He's too busy exploring." Nysa announced bitterly.

"Yeah..." Batalax looked at her fried sadly.

"I just hope they're alright..." Nysa frowned worriedly.

"Hey!" Batalax grinned, "We can call Tara and see if they're okay." The mage activated her Com-Sphere, "Tara."

"_Oh my god! Guys, it's B!"_

"Err. you sound surprised." Batalax shared a look with Nysa, "Is everything alright? We kind of parted on bad terms..."

"_Erm. Should we tell them? Ahh, hold on B, I need to talk to the others about something... I'll call you right back."_

Batalax blinked in confusion as the line went dead. "Okay... that was weird."

Nysa agreed, "Yeah, they're hiding something --but what?"

"Maybe they found, oh I dunno..." Batalax paused, "Okay... No. I have no idea what they could have found."

Nysa shrugged, "We should prolly head to bed. Do you want to sleep at the camp we set up back at the entrance or take that one down and put it up here?"

"Uhh... we should bring it here. It's warmer so you wont have to use up your fire gems." She paused, "Do fire gems get used up?"

"Yeah, it takes a long time though, unless you use them to make explosives, then they go boom and are gone. I actually need to restock on fire gems, the ones I have only have about an eighth of their power left." Nysa shrugged, "I forget where I got them though..."

"We'll just have to find us some fire jelly fiends," the mage paused in thought, "Oh! I think there's some on Besaid!"

"Well, once we meet up with the rest of the group, we're heading that way anyways."

"Good point Ny," Batalax yawned, "Let's go get our stuff and re-set up camp." She looked towards the land dreadfully, "It's going to be really cold getting out of the spring isn't it?"

Nysa shook her head, "Not if we move quickly, I remember going in my aunt an uncles hot tub in the winter time, and it was an outdoor thing." she smiled fondly, "We used to get out of the tub, jump in the snow and then get back in the tub again... it kind of hurt a bit, but it was fun."

"Sounds like it." Batalax smirked, "I'll race you!"

Nysa grinned, "You're on!"

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Dana picked himself off the ground, "Uggh, wha' happened?"

"Beats me, I thought you were the expert."

His reply was indignant, "I _am_ the expert... it's just never happened this way before."

Grady squinted in the darkness, he couldn't see a thing. "You mean you don't normally get teleported ten feet off the ground?"

"Nope, normally I get teleported on the ground, right by the group."

"Well, we're on the ground now." Grady glared in Danas direction.

"But where's the group?" The stoner frowned.

The taller of the two glared, "You're the expert. You tell me."

Dana started feeling along the walls, "I don't know, but would it kill you to help?"

"Maybe." Grady smirked.

Dana sighed, "You're not going to help are you?"

Again Grady just smirked, "That's just how I roll."

There was a low groan sound coming from the left side of the cave, both guys looked towards it and watched as a rock rolled over revealing the exit to the cave. Grady gave the rock an intrigued look, "Interesting..."

"**Wait."**

The two earthlings turned to see who was speaking, they could make out the faint outline of a strangely dressed child,

"Who are you?"

Grady ignored the stoner and looked towards the boy, "Bahamut, right?"

"**You two made it. I'm glad."**

Dana stepped forward, "Your that kid who told me I could visit my cousin through my dreams, aren't you?"

"**Yes. But now I have more to ask of you than I did before. I need the two of you to join the pilgrimage."**

"The one my cousin and her friends are on?"

"**Yes."**

Grady frowned, "Why now? Don't the six of them have it under control?"

"**...I need to prepare you."**

Dana shrugged, "C'mon Grady, it'll be fun."

"As long as I get to see Sarah."

Bahamut frowned, **"Who first?"**

Dana shrugged again, "I'll go first."

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"My god... what do we tell them?" Skye glanced around frantically.

"The truth?"

"Oh yeah, I so see that going well." Akail bit out sarcastically, "Oh, hi guys, we can't travel with you anymore because we abandoned you in order to go back to Earth." He frowned, "Yeah, I see that going over _really_ well."

"It's not like we left them on purpose." Tara growled, "They didn't come with us, so it's their fault that they're stuck in Spira."

"I thought Nysa was your best friend!" Xander frowned slightly.

Tara gave him a sad look, "Yeah. I thought so too."

"We have to tell them the truth guys, we _have _to."

Skye looked at Akail, "We don't _have _to do anything... but I agree."

"So we're telling them?"

Tara frowned, "I guess we are." She activated her Com-Sphere. "Batalax."

"_Mmm? Wha' you want?"_

"We decided what to tell you."

"_Can this wait till mornin? It's like Three AM and I'm kinda busy sleeping."_

"Alright..." Tara glanced around the tennis court, it was daytime here. "I'll call you tomorrow."

"_Kay.."_

The line went dead, "Okay..." Tara glanced at her friends, "What now? I mean we've been missing for a long time... what do we tell people? Or do we tell people? Should we make up some lame cove story?"

Xander frowned, "Should we say we don't remember and that we just woke up here in Camelot?"

"I think that's a good idea --but what about how we look, our clothing's a bit... out of place here." Skye looked towards her skimpy outfit, "At least it's not winter here, Gagazet was cold!"

"Should we head to Nysa's place?"

"Yeah, if we're going with the memory thing, that would be where we would go if we randomly woke up here."

"So how far is Nysa's place from here?" Akail asked.

"Just down the street." Tara replied, leading the way out of the tennis court. "It's like a two minute walk at most."

The four friends walked down the road in silence all of them glancing around wearily, it was really foggy, so much so that everything looked almost colorless and dead, it was also way too quiet. "Is anybody else getting flashbacks to the Silent Hill movie?" The group shared nervous looks and continued walking down the road.

"Well, this is Nysa's place, and all the vehicles are here...so they must be home." Tara smiled slightly, "I hope."

"Well, let's go in." Skye pushed the gate open and walked down the cracked sidewalk towards the front door. She waited until the other three were in the porch with her and then knocked.

"Uhh, I don't think anyones home." Akail whispered.

"Somethings not right..." Tara gave the house a confused look. "The dogs aren't barking." She pushed the door open, "Hello? Is anyone home?"

Xander frowned as he saw the interior of the house. "No one's home."

"I don't think anyone's been home for a long time." Skye added seeing the dust that covered the furniture.

"This can't be right! All of their stuff is here!" Tara ran into the living room, "Hello?!"

"Skye, Tara." Xander addressed the two girls, "You two take a look around, see if you can find any clues about where they might be." He gestured to himself and Akail, "We're going to go ask the neighbors."

"Alright." Tara nodded and started walking towards the stairs, she gestured towards Skye, "You check this floor, I'll check the basement." She turned back to face the group, "Oh yeah, let's meet here-" she gestured to the kitchen, "--In...let's say, fifteen minutes?"

"That sounds good."

"Sure."

"Let's get 'er done!"

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"Cool." Was all Grady could say. He had been given Katars, and Daggers! His sphere grid was done rather strangely though, he wasn't a master in any set area, but he had abilities from all of the areas. He smirked slightly, his agility stats were completely maxed out. His outfit was strange, only in the way that he hadn't allowed it to be changed. He was still wearing his black jeans and black World of Warcraft Rogue T-shirt. Although he had been given a wicked looking black cloak, Bahamut had said that Tracy had asked for all of the group to be given one.

"Done admiring yourself yet?" Dana asked sarcastically.

"Heh heh heh, alright." Grady turned towards his...accomplice and couldn't hold back a laugh, Dana was dressed like Aang from _Avatar. The Last Air Bender. _From what he could see, Dana's weapons were a rather cool looking crossbow and a short sword. "So have you thought of a new name?"

Dana shrugged, "I'm going to go as Kayden..." he paused, "Is Tra------Nysa's last name Craft?"

"Croft, I think."

"Then yeah, I am now Kayden Croft." He looked at the the taller guy, "What about you?"

Grady shrugged. "Souron."

"Souron what?"

Grady shrugged again, "Just Souron.

"Okay...Just Souron." Dana smirked. "The purple kid told me that we need to stay here for the night, or we'll never meet up with the group, did he tell you that too?"

"Something like that." Grady pulled out a charm bangle and placed it at the entrance to the cave, "Bahamut said it would keep fiends away, something about us not being strong enough to face the fiends here yet."

"Awesome." Dana pulled his cloak out and put it on, "We should make a fire if we're gunna stay here over night, it's cold!"

Grady nodded, "let's go look for something to burn, maybe we should keep the Charm bangle with us for now."

"But then what happens if fiends take up residence in the cave while we're gone?"

"Okay, we'll leave it here, and go looking for wood without it, it must be like three in the morning, or later."

Dana frowned, "Then why don't we just stay awake?"

"Because I need sleep."

"Meh," Dana shrugged, "Let's go get some wood then."

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Tara sighed as she walked into the basement, this place held a lot of memories for her. She checked Rebecca's room first, and even though she had been expecting it, she couldn't help but feel disappointed when there was no clues to find out where Nysa's parents had gone. "Her grandpas room next then," she mumbled.

She sighed, his room was like all the other rooms, untouched and full of dust. The gun-mage frowned at the last room in the basement, "Here goes nothing." she made her way past the curtain that was her best friends door, "Whaaaa-?!" the room was trashed, it looked as if someone had done a police drug check on the room, but yet her computer was untouched, and her winamp was still open and playing music.

_Massive disregard... Shows what to expect. Scars on top of scars... Racing toward a future we don't have. Fear is taking over me.__The Future is as certain...As life will come to an end. When time feels like a burden, we struggle with our certain death._

Tara blinked, why were the lyrics getting to her so much, it was as if they were calling to her, making her want to lay the bed and listen and never get up. She shook herself out of the daze and looked towards the computer once more... wait, it wasn't plugged in. As soon as she realized this, the screen went black and the music stopped. "Uhh..." she backed out of the room and ran up the stairs, Skye was already sitting at the Kitchen table.

"Find anything?"

Tara shrugged, "I'm really not sure..." she gave her friend a nervous smile, "What about you?"

Skye frowned, "It's as if they just stopped in the middle of what they were doing...and left. I mean, the shower was on, and from how cold the air in the bathroom is, I'd say it's been on for awhile. But if they had left... wouldn't the car be gone? And what about the animals, there's no tracks in the dust other than ours, there's nothing here!"

Tara sat down heavily, ignoring the dust. "Nysa's room's been trashed, as in completely torn apart. The only thing thats still in once piece is the computer... and I swear---" she cut herself off.

"You swear what?"

"When I walked into her room, her computer was on, and music was playing... the song was... I don't know, it made me want to lay down...and stay down." the blond paused, "And then I realized the computer wasn't even plugged in, and as if a switch had been pulled the screen went black and the music stopped."

Akail and Xander could be seen from the kitchen window, they were standing on the road arguing. Skye frowned, "Let's see what the neighbors had to say about this."

"Yeah..." Tara pulled the door open and walked out to meet the guys, "What did you two find out?"

Akail glanced at Xander, "We checked the neighbors houses on both sides... they're both empty, and it looks as if the people just...disappeared."

Xander nodded sagely, "The vehicles are still in the driveway, and it looks as if everyone just got up and left. Everything is in perfect condition, just dusty."

"Nysa's room was destroyed."

"Hmm..."

Akail frowned, "And again, I'm reminded of the movie Silent Hill."

Tara glanced at the neighbors house and then back at Nysa's, "I have an Idea." she walked to the nearest driveway and got into a car, "Get in guys, we're going for a drive."

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"Wake-y, wake-y!"

Nysa rolled over, "Mmm, just a lil' longer, kay?"

Batalax smirked evilly and pointed her Tikki at the slumbering thief. "**Water**!"

"Gahh!" Nysa sat up hastily, "Ophelia Batalax! I'm going to _murder _you!"

The sound of laughter could be heard all throughout the cave as Nysa covered her friend in snow. "I love being able to control ice and snow!" Nysa pulled her yellow boots on and started putting the tent away.

Batalax smiled and shook the snow off her shoulders, "So are we going to the cave to meet up with the others?"

"Uh.. sure?" Nysa paused and stuffed the tent into her inter-dimensional pouch. "I hate doing important conversations over the Com-sphere."

"Me too." the mage replied as she put on her black cloak, "let's go." she glanced at her friend and frowned, "Aren't you going to put something warmer on?"

Nysa glanced down at her green top and short shorts, "Nah, since I merged with Shiva, the cold doesn't bother me much, I still feel it, but it's not bad." the thief grinned, "I think if you were to get hit by lightning, it wouldn't hurt you."

"Damn skippy. Remember the Thunder Plains? None of the lightning would hit me." The mage grinned smugly, "You on the other hand..."

"Yeah, yeah." Nysa shrugged smiling sheepishly, "let's get going."

Twenty minutes later the two girls stood in front of the cave once more, "Do you still get a bad feeling from it Ny?"

Nysa gave the cave a hard look, "Yeah, I do."

"Then, let's do the next best thing, stand outside the entrance and yell."

Nysa smirked, "I like the way you think."

"Guys?! You in there?" Batalax shouted towards the cave.

Two guys appeared in the entrance, "Took you long enough."

Nysa blinked, "Dana? Why didn't you just teleport to us like always?"

"And who's with you----" Batalax squinted, "Wait... _Grady?!"_

"Hey."

Batalax and Nysa turned towards him, "What are you doing here?"

"Bahamut said that me and Kayden needed to join your pilgrimage."

"Uhh, who's Kayden?"

Dana raised his hand, "Bahamut said we needed new names, so I'm now Kayden Croft and this-" he gestured to Grady, "Is Just Souron."

Nysa smiled, "Nice to meet you, Kayden, and---" She giggled, "It's nice to meet you too... Just."

Souron glared at her, "Shut up Shiny-girl!"

Nysa gave him an indignant look, "Hey! I'm not Nyah! I'm Nysa!"

Souron gave her a skeptical look, "Same thing."

Batalax blinked in confusion, "Uhh... huh?"

"Nyah was my D&D character, and in game, Gra--- Sourons character always called my character shiny-girl because she liked shiny things."

Batalax smiled, "Oh yeah, I remember now, I was there when you made your character..." she grinned, "The only reason I remember is because you were drinking while you did it."

Souron smirked and made his way closer to the girls, Kayden following close behind. "That was an... interesting night."

Nysa blinked, "Wait a second," she looked past them to the cave. "What are you two doing coming from_ that _cave?" She sent the cave a dark look. "And if you came from there... where's the rest of the group?"

Dana gave his cousin a confused look, "The rest of the group? Aren't they with you?"

"Yeah, where's my girlfriend?"

"They're in the cave." Batalax pointed toward the cave the two guys had just walked out of.

"No they're not. That cave only has one room."

Dana turned towards the cave only to see something shocking, "There is_no_cave."

The other three turned, "Okay... I think we need to pay Bahamut a visit."

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A/N: Sorry for the delay, I've had an extreme case of writers block. My next update will probably take even longer to come up, I've recently got a job, and my shift is usually around ten hours long, and the job is very hard work... so yeah, I basically will be getting home and sleeping; this leaves me very little time to write.


	18. To The Rescue

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 10 or 10-2. I also do not own any of the other random cameos that show up in this fic. However, the main characters are based off of real people… but I don't own them... I just make fun of them.

Chapter: Seventeen.

**To the rescue?!**

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""Bahamut! Get your non-coporeal ass up here, right now!" Nysa called out angrily, "Show yourself! I _know _you can hear me!"

Batalax looked around the icy slopes but she couldn't see anyone dressed in purple besides herself. "I don't think he's coming."

"How can we contact him then?" Souron asked.

Batalax shared a look with Nysa. "Bevelle?"

"But that would require some... undercover work." Nysa smirked.

Kayden gave his cousin a perplexed look, "Why would we have to go undercover?"

"Because me and Batalax are wanted dead or alive by the entire city... maybe even most of this whole world." Nysa gave the two males of the group a sheepish smile.

"All of Spira wants you dead?" Kayden cried out in shock, "When did this happen?"

"Uhh," Batalax scrunched up her nose. "Remember when you first came to Spira and had to rescue Skye from the dungeon the blue haired maniac's right hand man Sterge--"

"--Who I killed yesterday!" Nysa cut in.

"--Had thrown her in?" Batalax continued as if she had never been interrupted.

"My girlfriend was thrown in a dungeon!?"

Batalax glared at Souron for interrupting her, "Well, anyways... it happened shortly after that."

Seeing their blank looks, Nysa elaborated, "We killed Seymour--"

"He was already dead!" Batalax cut in indignantly.

"That's besides the point." Nysa shrugged, "We were also framed for the murder of Maester Kelk Ronso."

Kayden looked back and forth from one girl to the other as if it was a pinball game. "Uhh.. okay?"

"My girlfriend was thrown into a dungeon?!"

"Yep." Nysa nodded cheerfully, "Oh! And Xander was shot."

Batalax waved her Tikki in the air, "Shouldn't we be planning our trip to Bevelle?"

"Oh. Right." Nysa smiled sheepishly.

Souron looked around the icy slopes in dismay, he had no idea which way to go, and he hated not knowing things. "Are we walking there?" he asked, hating how ignorant he sounded.

"We'll get there faster by Chocobo." Batalax exclaimed.

"So to Remiem?" Kayden asked remembering that Chocobos gathered there.

Nysa frowned, "I think Becca's place is closer, and Akail said she had a bunch of Chocobos."

"Okay then, let's go." Souron took a step forward and stopped. "Which way is go?"

Nysa laughed and pointed in the general direction she assumed her sisters shop was in, "It'll be faster if we fly to the Calm Lands."

"Why don't we just fly all the way to the Bavel place?"

"Bevelle." Batalax corrected absentmindedly, "And we can't fly there because we're trying to be stealthy about this.

"Why don't me and Kayden go and talk to Bahamut instead of you two?" Souron gave the girls a smug look, "We, unlike you two, are not wanted dead."

Batalax turned to Nysa and in a stage whisper said, "He makes a good point... what do we do now?"

Also using a stage whisper, Nysa replied, "Are you sure we can trust the two of _them _to find out what's going on with the rest of the group?"

"Uhh..." The mage glanced around awkwardly, "Also a good point..."

"Let's figure this out at Becca's..." Kayden rubbed his arms trying to warm himself up. "It's freezing out here."

"Alright." Nysa glanced at her friends, they all looked really cold. "Let's get you three someplace warm." She summoned Bahamut with a wave of her hand, "All aboard."

--

"So what's your plan?" Akail asked from his place in the backseat.

"We're going to go look for some sign of life.. and Skye?" The gun-mage looked towards her friend as she pulled the car to a stop, "I think you need to drive... my vision seems to be... lacking."

"Mine too." Xander and Akail replied simultaneously.

"Okay." Skye exclaimed as she switched seats with Tara. "So now that we're back here you guys need glasses again?"

"I'm guessing so. Let's make a stop at my house and Xanders house."

"What about me?"

Tara got a thoughtful look on her face, "Well, if the place is this empty everywhere, we can make a pit stop at the nearest optometrist and you can try on glasses until you find a pair that works."

Akail nodded and smiled slightly as the car began to move again, he had missed technology.

Ten minutes later the group pulled up Tara's driveway, "I'll only be a minute." Tara exclaimed as she got out of the car and started to walk towards her house.

"So what do guys think is going on?" Akail looked out the car window, it was so foggy he could barely see the house, and they were parked right next to it.

"I really don't know... but it's freaking me out." Skye held her hand out and concentrated, "And, our magic still doesn't seem to be working." she finished with a sigh of disappointment.

"Maybe this isn't earth."

"Huh?" Akail gave his friend a strange look, "You think this is fake?"

"No. not fake." Xander looked up at his friends, "I think we're in the Farplane."

"You think we're _dead_?!"

"No...not dead. Misplaced."

"You think we're _dead_!?"

Xander sighed in exasperation, "I should just...not speak."

"I like that plan." Tara replied as she climbed into the passenger seat of the car. "What were you talking about?"

"Xander thinks we're dead."

"We are." Tara deadpanned. "Now, what were you guys _really _talking about?

"Uh... the fact that Xander thinks we're dead?"

Tara blinked. "Oh. I had thought you were kidding."

"We're not dead, at least I don't think we are." Xander frowned, "I think we're in the farplane."

"So you think we're dead?!"

"Gah!" Xander smacked his head against the car window. "Why do I surround myself with--"

"Say idiots and I'll shoot you." Tara leveled her gun at the warriors head.

"-Such...wonderful people?" he finished awkwardly.

"That's what I thought." Tara put her gun back in it's place at her side.

"Hey Tara... does your gun even work here? I mean, it runs off of magic doesn't it... and our magic doesn't work here... so, does it even work anymore?"

Tara opened the car window and shot a hole through one of the upstairs windows in her house. "It still has normal bullets too... dumbass."

Akail looked affronted, "It was a good question! How was I supposed to know it worked as a normal gun too? You've never used it as one before."

"Guys! Back to the matter at hand. If we _are_ in the farplane... how do we get out?" Everyone turned to look at Xander.

"How am I supposed to know!?"

"Well, your the one who thinks this is the farplane!" Tara gestured to the surrounding area. "Because, it looks like Castlegar to me."

"Let's just get the rest of you guys glasses so you can see, and then we'll figure out what to do in this Castlegar-look-a-like." Skye looked over at Tara, "do you want to take over driving?"

"Actually... I was thinking we should split up, cover more ground."

"That's a good idea, who will go with who?"

Tara frowned in concentration, "You take Xander, and I'll take Akail."

"Okay." Skye watched as the two got out of the car and hopped into the neighbors white truck. She rolled down the window, "Where should we meet?"

"Uhh, you guys check out the downtown area for people, we'll check out the uptown area, and we'll meet up at Camelot."

Skye nodded. "Do we have a back up plan if something goes wrong?"

Tara frowned. "We'll make it up as we go along if it comes to that."

"Alright, see you at Camelot in about an hour or two?"

Tara nodded and pulled the car out of the driveway.

Akail frowned slightly as the two groups drove away. "So to the eye place first?"

Tara nodded with a slight smile, "Hopefully they'll have something that will work for you... I'm not really sure, I usually go to the place in Nelson."

"Tara! Slow down the truck!" Akail exclaimed as he pointed towards the supermarkets parking lot, "Is that a person?"

Tara blinked and swerved the truck into the parking lot, it_ was _a person!She rolled down the window and shouted out, "Hey! What's going on in this town?"

The man looked at her and started to laugh insanely, "What town?"

Akail looked out the passenger side window and his mouth went dry with fear, "Tara... We need to leave. Quickly..." His eyes widened in shock, "Tara! Get us out of here!"

Tara frowned and continued to look at the man she was questioning, "Why? We've finally found somebody who may be able to give us answers!" she didn't even spare him a glance.

"We need to leave because Seymour is right over there and he is walking towards us!"

Tara turned her head so fast she feared that she had given herself whiplash, Seymour was walking towards their truck, and he wasn't alone. Unsents we're appearing everywhere. "Vilg!" She cursed as she sped out of the parking lot. "We need to get you glasses and get back to the others immediatly!"

Akail nodded wearily, "I think they're following us--" He gasped, "--Tara, look out!"

The gun-mage's eyes widened in shock as a man jumped in front of the truck, she swerved the truck to the left to avoid the unsent, causing the small pick-up to smash into a pole.

--

"Xander, would you quit badgering me?" Skye glared, "I _know _where you live."

"Fine. I wont try to be helpful then." Xander crossed his arms and gave her a half smile.

"Thank god." Skye replied, also sending him a smile. They pulled up to his house five minutes later.

"It's too quiet." Xander whispered, as if afraid to break the silence.

"This entire town is too quiet." Skye corrected, equally as quiet.

"Well, I'll be right back, if I remember correctly, my glasses are beside my bed."

"Be quick, Xander." Skye exclaimed as the dark haired warrior climbed out of the car. "I don't think we should be alone right now."

Xander nodded, he also had a feeling that they shouldn't be alone. "Come with me, we'll go in together."

Skye nodded and climbed out of the car after him. "We forgot to contact B and Ny,"

"And Tara's the only one who can... we really should have went back to Luca so we all could have gotten our own Com-spheres."

The two of them cautiously walked into the small house, but all of their cautiousness couldn't have prepared them for what was in the entrance hallway.

"Ifrit?!"

"Yojimbo?!"

--

Nysa waved to her three friends and entered the coffee shop, the bell on the door making a small ting. "Becca? Are you here?"

"Oh, hey Tracy!" Rebecca grinned and hopped down from her thrown like chair. "What brings you to here? You hate Coffee."

"It's Nysa now, and do I really need a reason to visit my favorite sister?" The thief grinned and hopped onto a bar stool by the counter. "And by the way, I love you place." It was true, she did love the place. Whoever had done the designing really knew what they were doing; The back wall and the wall to the left were done in a rich red color, while the wall to the right was made up of large windows. The sunlight shining through the windows gave the room a cheerful look. There were six small tables set up around the room for customers to sit at and the bar like counter she was currently sitting at. Rebecca had been sitting on a thrown that was on a raised platform by the back wall.

"It is nice, isn't it?" Rebecca replied smugly. "So, anyway. What are you doing here Tracy?"

"It's Nysa now." She repeated absentmindedly. "And me and some of the group decided to stop here and think some stuff over."

"Oh?" Rebecca looked up, "And where are they now?"

"They're at Remiem Temple; Souron wanted to see it." Nysa replied while looking over the menu written on the wall behind the counter.

"Souron?" Rebecca mindlessly started to polish the cherry wood counter top. "A new friend of yours?"

"Old friend, actually." Nysa looked way from the menu with a smile, "Him and Kayden recently joined our party. It's a good thing too, else it would have been just me and B."

"Where's the rest of your group?"

"I wish I knew. We're planning on heading to Bevelle to ask Bahamut." Nysa said. She gave a restless shrug, "Our main problem now is getting into the temple, without being killed on site."

"Too bad Dana's not here. You could get him to teleport you to Bahamut..." Rebecca trailed off as some customers walked into the shop. She smiled at them cheerfully, "Welcome to Bobs. How may I obtain your money today?"

"We'll take two Coffees, black." The man replied as he led his wife to a table.

"Cadmion! Two black coffees." She shouted in the general direction of the kitchen.

Nysa watched as a tall blond Al Bhed came out from a doorway she hadn't even noticed. She turned to her sister, the older girls words finally registering in her mind. "Wow, Anya much?"

Rebecca smirked, "At least I don't carry around a wooden stake."

"That was years ago!" Nysa pouted.

"What was years ago?" Batalax asked as she walked into the room, the bell on the door signaling that two more people had entered behind her.

"My sister used to carry around a stake." Rebecca replied.

"Oh, Tara must not have liked that." Batalax gave her friend a grave look, "Why would someone who's best friends with a vegitarian, carry around a steak?"

Nysa looked at her sister and the two of them started laughing, "A wooden stake B, not the meat kind,"

The mage blinked, "Oh." She then looked over at the two that had followed her into the room, they were barely containing their laughter. "Mr. Tikki is telling me to hit you all."

The group stopped laughing immediately, Batalax was known for hitting very hard, and you never knew if she was going to add a fire spell just to keep you on your toes.

"So," Nysa broke the silence awkwardly, "Kayden, do you still have your teleportation abilities?"

Kayden frowned, "I dunno, I never tried." He gave a nonchalant shrug and teleported across the room. "I guess I can still teleport. Cool." He teleported back to the group. "Let's go visit Bahamut."

"Can you still bring people with you?" Nysa asked.

"Let's see, shall we?" He grabbed Sourons arm and but when he tried to teleport, they didn't go anywhere. "That's a no."

"Well, there went that plan." Nysa hopped off the barstool gracefully, "Anybody got another plan?"

Souron looked them all ove and nodded to himself, "Let's do some subterfuge."

"Oh! Pick me! Pick me!" Batalax waved her Tikki in the air.

Souron sighed exasperatedly, "Batalax, we're all going."

B frowned, "Oh, I guess that's okay too."

Nysa donned her black organization cloak, "Kayden, you'll have to scout ahead as you can teleport and we can't, because although I may be stealthy, I'm not _that_ stealthy."

"I'm stealthy too, but for some reason people always notice me." Batalax shrugged indifferently, "I don't know why though."

"...moving along." Souron said. "We're near the end of the game, right?"

Nysa nodded, "Yeah, if we were playing the game instead of living it, this would be the part where we leveled up and got our ultamate weapons before taking on Sin." she paused thoughtfully, "Wait... that means that--"

"Theres a good chance Yuna and her party have already sent Maester Mika." Souron finished.

Batalax grinned, "Wouldn't that put Yevon into complete chaos? All four of their _precious_ Maesters dead?"

"We can work with chaos..." Kayden exclaimed as he too started to grin.

"Hold on, I'll call Rikku and see if they've sent the Maester yet." Nysa turned and walked towards the other side of the coffee shop, so she was facing the large windows. "Rikku." She exclaimed as she activated the Com-Sphere.

"_Rammu_?"

"Rao Rikku, ed'c sa, Nysa."

_"Ur! Ruf yna oui? Tu oui haat ic du belg oui ib?"_

"Ann, hud aqyldmo..."

_"Rss, cu, fryd tu oui haat? Fa'na eh dra Cactar jemmyka nekrd huf..."_

"Urr! Kaddehk ouin Imdysed faybuh?"

_"Oab,"_

Nysa glanced across the room where Souron was pointing to his wrist, as if telling her to hurry up. "Cunno, pid e kud du lid drec crund, Tet Yuna caht Maester Mika oad?"

_Oac, Yuna tet. Fro?"_

Emm damm oui mydan, E kud du ku... Poa vun huf!" Nysa ended the call with a smirk of triumph. She walked back to the group, "The Maester is no more. Let's go to Bevelle."

"Can't we at least stay the night?" Batalax looked towards Nysa pleadingly, "It's been so very long since I slept on an actual bed instead of the cold hard ground."

Nysa shrugged, "Why are you asking me? I'm not your leader, B."

Batalax shrugged, "Yes you are. You just don't know it yet."

Nysa shot the mage a strange look, and turned to her sister, "Well, can we stay, Becca?" She paused thoughtfully, "Is there anywhere for us to stay?" she too wouldn't mind sleeping in an actual bed.

Rebecca shrugged, "Sure. There's four extra bedrooms upstairs, because, although this place isn't allowed to be an Inn, sometimes the weather is really bad and it's unsafe for my minions to travel home for the night."

Kayden laughed, "I wish I had minions."

Completely ignoring the conversations going on around him, Souron looked over at the menu behind the bar, "Can I get some tacos?"

Rebecca smiled at him, "That will be 20Gil."

Souron looked over at Batalax, "Can I borrow 20Gil?"

Batalax grinned and handed him a money bag, "You can have more than that, I think theres around 50,000Gil in there, it was getting heavy, so I didn't want it anymore."

Souron opened the bag and looked in, he had never held this much money before, but Ophelia was right, It was heavy. He reached in and pilled out 20Gil, "Here you go."

"Aeliod, We've got an incoming order of Tacos."

The Al Bhed man poked his head out from the kitchen, "Yes boss."

Nysa frowned in thought, "Are all of your...minions, Al Bhed?"

Rebecca nodded, "Besides working in my shop, I'm trying to help them invent me a computer."

Nysa nodded, "I can't even pretend to be surprised."

"So, what do you guys want to do while we wait for night time?" Batalax asked, "It's been so long since we had any time to relax."

"Maybe we should try and contact Tara!" Nysa felt like smacking herself, why hadn't she thought of this earlier?

"I'll do it!" Batalax grinned and activated her Com-Sphere. "Tara."

Nysa frowned, "is it not..."

"Tara?" Batalax asked again.

"I don't think it's working..." Kayden exclaimed.

"It's not." Batalax said as she turned it off. "It wont connect."

"I knew that cave was evil..." Nysa grumbled.

"Well, there goes that plan." Batalax said with a sigh as she hopped onto a bar stool.

"Do any of you want to order something?" Rebecca asked, gesturing to the menu.

Nysa smiled lightly, "That would be great... it's been awhile since I had actual food, Behomoth Steaks don't count, on account that they're disgusting." she looked over at the menu, "I'll get..." She looked over at souron, "I'll get some taco's too." She want to hand her sister 20 Gil.

"Sure, that'll be 400 Gil." Rebecca replied.

"Okay... wait! Hey! Why do I have to pay more than Souron?!"

"Because, I'm your sister and you have to listen to what I say."

Batalax nodded. "That sounds fair."

"No it doesn't!" Nysa cried in mock outrage. "But if you insist..." She handed over the required amount of Gil. "You won't be getting a tip!"

"So what do the four of you plan on doing for the day? And why don't you go to Bevelle now and just come back her tonight?"

"Huh. Never thought about that. What do you think, Nysa? Should we go to Bevelle today and just come back here tonight?"

Nysa yawned and nodded, "Sure, I'm tired, but it makes sense, and we waste less time that way. Just let me eat my taco's before we go, okay?' She smiled and gestured to the menu, "You two should order something too, who knows when we'll get the chance to sit down and eat like this again."

Batalax nodded, "Can I get some chicken strips and something to drink?"

Rebecca nodded, "Sure, that'll be 30Gil. What do you want to drink?"

Batalax put her Tikki in its makeshift shealth on her back. "What do you have to drink?"

--

"**I thought you sent them home!"** Shiva hissed angrily.

"**I thought I had too."** Bahamut replied.

"**Well, they are most certainly _not_ home. Where did you send them?" ** Ixion growled.

Bahamut sighed, his child-like body taking on a serious look that should never be seen on someone who looked so young.** "I'm not sure, but we need to get them back. Ifrit, Valafor, Anima and Yojimbo have left to find their chosen Guardians."**

"**But they alone do not have the power to bring the Guardians back!" **Shiva said, her tone frosty.

"**But at least they will have the added protection until our Chosen can rescue them."** Ixion said.

--

Nysa frowned and looked at her sister, "It's time for us to go now, sorry, Becca." She then smiled, "Unless of course, you want to come with us?"

Rebecca laughed, "Not likely."

"Alright then," Nysa shrugged, she hadn't expected her sister to want to come anyway. "We'll be back later tonight, I can hardly wait, it's been so long since I slept on a real bed."

Batalax grinned and waved at Rebecca. "Yeah. See you later."

Kayden looked out the window, the sun was shining brightly. "Let's go."

Nysa nodded and followed her three friends out of the shop, she looked back through the doorway and watched as her sister sat down on her thrown-like chair. Nysa gave a half wave and closed the door behind her.

Kayden pointed to the left of the building, "Come on, Becca said the Chocobo stables are right over there."

"Ee! We get to ride Chocobos?!" Batalax grinned and ran in the direction of the stables.

Souron watched the mage cheerfully run towards the stables, Kayden close behind, He turned towards the thief of the group, "Do you think Bahamut will actually tell us where they are?"

Nysa looked in the direction of Bevelle, her face pensive. "I'm sure he will." Her eyes went hard, "If not, I may just decide to not help take down Sin."

--

"Guhh..." Tara pulled herself out of the truck, gingerly feeling herself for injuries. "Akail... you okay?" She looked into the truck at the assassin. He wasn't moving. "Akail?" she climbed back into the smashed up truck, "Akail? Are you okay?" She undid his seat belt and worked on pulling him from the wreck. "Don't you dare die, _again_! Not here... not now."

Once she had him situated on the ground she started digging through her items pouch, mumbling, "phoenix downs... phoenix downs." She found one in her pouch and looked at it warily; it was her last one. "Drink up, Akail." She poured it down his throat.

Akails eyes opened slowly, "What hap'ned?"

"I...kinda crashed the truck... a little."

"Are the unsents still coming after us?"

Tara cursed, "Damn it, I had forgotten about them completely... you were being all unconscious-y."

"I think..." he looked around, "I think we _may_ be surrounded."

Tara looked up and glared at the unsents, "You think?" She snapped back sarcastically.

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A/N: So sorry for the extremely long delay. I have had such bad writers block when it comes to this story. I think my main problem is that when I started this Fic, me and my friends were in our last year of high school, so I saw them all everyday.. but now, Batalax is in Europe, Tara's in a different province, Xander and I are not really that good of friends any more, and Akail is rarely online. The only people I see any more are Skye and Souron. It makes it a lot harder to keep everyone in character.


	19. The Journey

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 10 or 10-2. I also do not own any of the other random cameos that show up in this fic. However, the main characters are based off of real people… but I don't own them... I just make fun of them. ^_^

Chapter: Eighteen.

**The Journey!?**

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"Well, I wasn't expecting this." Skye exclaimed. She tucked a stray piece of her dark hair behind her ear and looked her Aeon of choice over. "Hello Ifrit."

The Fire-Aeon nodded slightly and merged with her once again. Skye smiled, feeling the power return to her. She looked to her left seeing Xander merge with Yojimbo once again. She felt sorry for interrupting his thoughts, but spoke anyway, "Come on, we need to get your glasses and meet the others."

Xander nodded and headed down the stairs, "I'll be right back."

Skye moved into the kitchen and sat down on one of the chairs, she felt exhausted. She put her hand on the hilt of her sword and closed her eyes, really wishing she had time to rest. Everything was happening much too fast, just hours ago, she had been with her friends on the adventure of a lifetime, and now, she was sitting in Xanders kitchen on a completely different planet. The Assassin sighed and glared in the direction of the stairs, what was taking him so long? They had to get moving so they could get back--

"Huh." She whispered, shocked by her own thoughts. She wanted to go back to Spira. Sure, she hadn't really liked it in the beginning, but it became routine after so many months. She laughed quietly. Spira was sometimes a scary as fuck routine, but a routine none-the-less.

There was a thump coming from the stairs, the assassin frowned, she spoke through a yawn, "About time, I thought you said you knew exactly where---" She opened her eyes, "-----Xander!"

Xander looked up, hearing the assassin shout his name. "I wonder what she wants..." He looked over the mess that was once his room, like Nysa's it was completely torn apart, he only hoped his glasses were still in one place. "Ah ha!" He reached under his flipped over computer desk, "There they are." He placed the glasses on his face and with one last look at his room, headed out the door and up the stairs.

The site that greeted him was something out of a nightmare.

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"B, wait up!" Nysa called out, trying to get her friend to slow her chocobo down, "We're not racing!"

"We're not?" Batalax pulled her chocobo into a slower trot, "Then why are Souron and Kayden so far ahead of us?"

"Because, they're doing reconnaissance." Nysa sighed, giving her friend an exasperated look, "did you not listen at all when we worked out our plan?"

Batalax shrugged, her expression sheepish, "Well, you see, there was this cloud, and it kind of looked like Tidus's hair..."

Nysa laughed, "Why didn't you point it out? That would have been awesome."

The mage frowned, "You guys looked kinda busy."

"You could have helped us, B. You seem to keep forgetting that you're like the smartest person out of all of us Earthlings."

"That's just it, I'm really not." At her friends disbelieving look she elaborated, "I mean, sure in school, I always got great marks, but that just means I'm book smart. Nothing I learned in books will help me here."

"Hah! Video games win again!" Nysa laughed slightly, "Seriously Ophelia, almost everything I know is from either video games or fan fiction. I haven't picked up an actual book for years, well, at least not of my own will."

"It seems kind of strange..." The mage pointed out, her voice thoughtful.

Nysa waited for the mage to continue, but seeing as she wasn't, she asked, "What seems kind of strange?"

"The fact that we accepted this so easily... I mean, so quickly. You and I, we accepted this a lot easier than the others, and I don't know about you... but when this is all over, I want to stay here. I mean, I don't want to go back to Earth."

"Me ether. Coming here has been like a dream for me, I don't think I've been this... free, or happy, ever before in my life. I feel like this is where I was always meant to be."

Batalax smiled, "Hey, think Souron and Kayden would be annoyed if we were about... two hours late?"

"Why, what do you have in mind?"

The mage smirked, "I thought that maybe we could make a quick detour to Luca, get the guys a com-sphere each."

"Good idea. I can write a note and leave it at the rendezvous spot." Nysa pushed her chocobo into a faster run and looked to her right as Batalax did the same. "I'll race you!"

Batalax grinned and pushed her chocobo to run faster, "You're on!"

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"Come on, it's this way." Kayden said, gesturing towards a slightly overgrown path.

"Huh. That's no where near where it was in the game." Souron said.

"From what Nysa was telling me, most things are the same as they were in the game, but much more elaborate and realistic." Kayden looked at the pool of water and the surrounding area. "And... they're not here. Fuck."

Souron pulled out his katars and started examining the area, trying to see if it looked as if a fight had happened. "I don't see any sign that they were---" he broke off and moved over to a tree that had a piece of paper stabbed to it.

"That's one of my cousins throwing knives." Kayden commented idly, also moving over to the tree. He pulled the dagger out and handed it to Souron. Taking the letter for himself he read it out loud.

"_Souron and Kayden._

_Something came up, so the two of us have to take a quick detour to Luca. We're sorry we didn't wait, but I figured it would probably be a bad idea for the two of you to be seen with us before we talk to (The person we are going to Bevelle to see). Our trip should not take very long as we are only going there to pick something up. The person we are going to Luca to meet may no longer be there though, and if that is the case, the two of us may take a bit longer to get back to you guys. If we're not back by the time the sun starts to go down, go back to my sisters, and we'll meet you there. Hopefully we'll be back before that is necessary though. See you later, and be safe. If all goes well, when we get back, you will have a way to contact us, even when we are not together. _

_-Shiva & Ixion"_

"Huh." Souron exclaimed after Kayden finished reading the letter to him. "Wish they would have waited so we could have went too, It would be cool to see Luca." he examined the throwing knife, absently noting that the balance of it was perfect. "Why did they sign it Shiva and Ixion though?"

"What if it hadn't been us to find the letter? What if it had been a Yevonite?" Kayden frowned slightly, "Nysa and Batalax are both on the most wanted list, if someone saw their names on a letter that said they were going to Luca--"

"--The Yevonites would lay in wait and capture them." Souron finished.

"Exactly." Kayden frowned at the rendezvous spot, "Now stands the question, what are we going to do while we wait for them to get back?"

"I have an idea..." Souron smirked, "It'll help us pass the time before they get back."

"What's your idea?" Kayden asked, feeling slightly suspicious because of the grin his new friend was wearing.

"We're going to put on a barbeque!"

Kayden blinked, "Uh, why, with what, and where?"

"Because we can, with fiend meat, and in Bevelle."

"Sure," Kayden shrugged, "Why the hell not?"

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"Tara..."

"I know."

"They're everywhere..."

"I know."

"What do we do?"

Seymour stepped forward, "You die."

Akail groaned, "Again?!"

"You evil guys..." Tara groaned, "You need to think up some new lines, seriously." She shook her head in disgust, "You die? I mean, _come on_! Get some originality!"

Seymour frowned, and shook his head in amusement. "The feeble banter portion of the fight..."

"Yeah, something like that." Tara pulled out her gun and shot him. "Run!" She grabbed Akails arm and pulled him past the unsents.

"Oh no you don't." Seymour cast a flare in the direction of the two running teens.

Tara's eyes widened as she dove behind a parked car, the force of the flare throwing the car into the air.

"_Tara?"_

Tara grabbed at her Com-Sphere frantically, "Nysa?"

"_Wow, it connected... Tara, are you okay? I can barely hear you? Where are you?"_

" Help! We're in Castlegar! There's Unsents everywhere. Seymour is here, but we don't have any of our powers!" she stopped talking when she realized the line had gone dead.

The car crashed back to the ground in a smoldering heap. Akail blinked, "That was awesome!"

"Sure, if you enjoy near death experiences." Tara replied back sarcastically. She pulled Akail to his feet and the two of them continued to run. Surprisingly, Seymour nor the Unsents followed them.

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"Weee! It's been so long since I've gotten to fly!"

"B, it's been like, five hours!"

"Exactly." Batalax sent her friend a pointed look, "That's practically a life time."

Nysa shook her head with a laugh, "We'll be there soon, any ideas on where Shinra will be?"

"Uh, no idea? Where do little genius Al Bhed kids hang out nowadays?" Batalax turned to view her friend, "Is he even in Luca anymore?"

"I don't know where they hang out nowadays, I know where he hangs out two years from now--- and wow, that feels very strange to say." Nysa replied, "And B, do you think you could maybe... pay attention to where we're going while you drive?" The thief glanced over the side of Bahamut, cringing at how close they were to crashing into the ground.

"Wha-- Oh." The mage pulled the Aeon Dragon higher, "I hadn't realized we were that close to he ground." She shot her friend a sheepish grin, "oops?"

Nysa gave a nervous laugh, "Oh thank god, we're almost there." She could see the large city in the distance, "Pull Bahamut over here, so they don't see us."

Batalax nodded and pulled them to a stop. "Let's hope he's still here." She dismissed her Dragon with a wave of her hand. "Oh, and by the way, you'll have to pay for the Com-Spheres... I gave my Gil to Souron."

Nysa sighed and started to walk in the direction of the city, Batalax had dropped them off quite a ways from the Highroad, so they had to track through the wilderness for a while before they would get to Luca. Just for the sake of it she tried to contact the gun-mage of the group again. "Tara."

"_-- Ny--"_

"Wow, it connected..." Nysa smiled at Batalax in triumph. "Tara, are you okay? I can barely hear you? Where are you?"

"_Help! We-- Castle--- Unsen--- Seymo--"_

Nysa frowned as the line went dead. "From what I can tell, they're in a castle, they need help, and Seymour is after them." Her frown deepened. "But I don't remember there being any castles in Spira..."

Batalax shrugged and looked up from the path only she could see, "At least now we know they're still alive."

"Well, we know Tara's alive." Nysa corrected. The thief blinked and tilted her head as if listening for something, she stopped walking and looked up, her eyes cold. "B, we're being followed."

Batalax frowned, and stopped walking. "I hear it too." She turned around and gasped, the fiend was bigger than any fiend she had encountered so far, besides Sin. "What the Tikki is that?"

Nysa swore softly and pulled out her daggers, "Sin spawn." She hissed.

"Not good... not good at all!" Batalax backed up a step, "fighting an army of soldiers out to kill us is one thing... they don't want to eat us!"

Nysa grimaced, she hadn't realized just how long it had been since they fought an actual fiend, lately it had just been Yevonites that they fought. She nodded in agreement to Batalax's statement as she too backed up a step. "I'm thinking, all out attack? Kill it before Sin decides to come back for it."

Batalax swung her Tikki slightly in preparation, "Oh- okay..." She glanced up at the huge fiend. "You go first."

Nysa shot a quick glare in the taller girls direction, and swallowing her fear, she jumped forward, "**SCAN**!" it came back with 800,000 HP and 999 MP, and it had no weaknesses. She relayed the scan to Batalax with a noticeable wince.

Batalax grimaced, "**Firaga**!"

And the battle began.

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Xander jumped into the fray immediately, his sword drawn. Unsents were appearing everywhere in his living room. Quickly, he found himself back to back with Skye. "Where'd they come from?" He asked.

"The door." Skye deadpanned. She ducked an attack and swung her sword up cutting the unsent in half. "Took you long enough, by the way." she added.

"Sorry." Xander apologized unsincerely, "My room was completely torn apart, it took me forever to find my glasses." He parried one of the Unsents strikes and used the superior strength given to him from his Aeon to take out all the surrounding Unsents in one strike.

"We need to get out of here." Skye murmered. She watched as more Unsents filed into the room. "like, really soon. It's two small of an area for us to fight properly."

"Yeah." Xander agreed. "Let's make a dash for the front door, do you think you could clear out the Unsents in our way?"

Skye grinned and sheathed her sword. "With pleasure." with a casual wave of her hand the Unsents by the front door caught fire and were quickly reduced to ash. "After you." she gestured for Xander to lead the way.

The two teens ran across the front lawn quickly and jumped into their borrowed vehicle. "Where to now?"

"Camelot?" Skye said hesitantly, "That's the meeting place right?"

"Yeah, But I have a feeling it's not exactly safe to be in the open like that..."

Skye started the car and started driving down the street, "Let's go look for Tara and Akail, they're probably at the eye place."

"Agreed." Xander agreed.

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Nysa and Batalax made their way into Luca, both a little worse for wear. The Sin Spawn was actually easy to beat. Nysa froze it to the ground while Batalax electrocuted it until it was dead. Unfortunately, it had taken the girls quite awhile to figure out a strategy that would kill it, so they were both pretty beat up.

"Just a quick detour, you said..." Nysa grumbled under her breath.

Batalax donned a guilty expression, "How was I supposed to know we would get attacked by Sin Spawn? I had never even heard of Sin Spawn! Thank the Fayth for X-potions." she shook her head with a quiet laugh, "I had forgotten how much harder Fiends were to beat than Yev..." She looked around, and realizing where she was, changed what she was saying, "Harder to beat than... people."

"I agree, people are a lot easier to beat than Fiends." Nysa replied. "Huh, I wonder where Shinra is?" Nysa inwardly frowned, the sin spawn was a lot harder than she had thought it would be, she hadn't even realized how lax they had been getting with their fighting. For the last month or two, they had mostly just fought Yevonites and small fiends. It was actually rather humbling to fight the large sin spawn, it reminded them that they weren't invincible.

"Not here obviously." Batalax exclaimed tiredly. They were standing on the platform overlooking the city, this was where Shinra had been standing the last time they saw him.

"Well, I didn't expect him to still be standing in this exact spot, I mean, it's been ages since we were here."

"True. Let's just hope he's still in the city." Batalax murmured, her eyes locked on the scene below her; it had been awhile since they were in a place with lots of people, she had missed the chaos.

"C'mon, let's wonder around and see if we can find him. I wouldn't mind getting a better idea of where everything in the city is too, It's a lot bigger than it was in the game, and last time I was here I got lost. I hate getting lost, I have a good sense of direction."

"No you don't." Batalax argued. "You just have a photographic memory," She sidestepped to avoid two kids playing tag.

Nysa just sighed and continued walking. "I wonder if there are any Blitzball tournaments going on right now... I would love to see a match."

"Blitzball?" Batalax asked, her expression confused. "What's that?"

Nysa's eyes widened, she had forgotten that B didn't know everything about Final Fantasy Ten, "It's a sport. It's like, underwater rugby. Well, I think. I don't actually know the rules of Rugby... but from what I can remember, Blitzball is similar."

"Underwater?" Batalax grinned, "Sounds interesting."

"It is. I spent hours playing Blitzball when I was playing Final Fantasy Ten. I played until my team was at the top of the league." She grinned at the mage, "I'm an Besaid Aurochs fan. Well, till Ten-two, I really like the Gullwings."

Batalax continued walking, not even pretending to know what her friend was going on about. She glanced up when a man bumped into her, "Hey, watch where you are going!"

The man stopped and looked at her apologeticially. "E's cunno."

Nysa grinned, "Wait, Ouin Al Bhed?"

The man nodded, he loked over the two teens suspiciously. "Oac."

"Tu oui gnuf frana Shinra ec?"

The man looked surprised that she was so fluent in Al Bhed when she was clearly not one of them. "Ra ec zicd bycd dra Sphere Theatre, E drehg."

Nysa grinned and thanked the man. "C'mon B, he's by the Sphere theatre." She started dragging her friend in the direction of the sphere theatre. She stopped suddenly. "Uh, B? Where's the Sphere Theatre?"

Batalax laughed and pulled the shorter girl in the direction of the theatre. "I had forgotten that you hadn't come with Tara and I when we went to pick up the recording spheres."

"Yeah, I had gotten..." Nysa trailed off, her eyes narrowing, they had found Shinra, but he wasn't alone.

"What the Tikki do you think you're doing?!" Batalax cried out in outrage. A man had the young Al Bhed backed into a corner and he had his gun pointed at the kids head.

"This kid is an Al Bhed!" The Yevonite explained calmly, as if it explained his actions.

That doesn't give you the right to kill him." Nysa growled, her eyes cold.

The Yevonite glared at her, "Who do you think you are little girl, I am a warrior monk of Yevon! I am the law!"

Nysa's eyes narrowed at the little comment, she had always been sensitive about her height, her being the shortest out of her entire group of friends. She looked towards Shinra, he was backed up against the alleyway wall looking at the Yevonite fearfully. When she spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper. "You may be a warrior monk, but I am a Summoner, and currently, I am extremely _pissed_ off!"

The man blinked and his entire stance changed, "But surly, Lady Summoner, you must know of the lies these _heathens_ have been spreading about Summoners. They had the nerve to say that Lady Yuna actually killed a Maester, when everyone knows it was that rogue Summoner, Lady Nysa."

Batalax started laughing, "Oh, that's just precious. They think you've gone rogue Ny!"

The man took a step back, "Lady Nysa?!" He turned to look at Batalax, his eyes locked on to her Tikki torch, "And Lady Batalax?!"

"He recognized me!" Batalax grinned and swunk her Tikki around gleefully, "Oh, Mr Monk guy, you totally just made my day!"

The man took a step back, away from the cheerful Summoner, he turned to his left and took another step back seeing the murderous look on the other Summoners face. "Help! Traitors of Yev--" The mans eyes rolled up into the back of his head as he collapsed to the ground unconscious.

Nysa bent down and picked up the gun she had just thrown at his head. "Heh. Loser."

"Hey Shinra!" Batalax turned and completely dismissing the unconscious monk on the ground, grinned at the kid. "Do you think we could buy a couple more Com-Spheres off of you?"

Shinra nodded, his eyes wide. "How many...?"

Nysa did a tally of who all needed one, "Huh... Well, Souron and Kayden, obviously. And We should get Becca one, as well as one for Xander, Akail, and Skye..." She looked over at Batalax, "Is that everyone?"

Batalax nodded, giggling slightly. "So yeah, we would like to buy six Com Spheres."

"What has you giggling so much, B?"

"I just realized something, you just threw your gun at someone!" She burst into laughter. "And here, all this time, I thought people were supposed to _shoot_ guns, not _throw _ them!"

"Ha. Ha. Laugh it up." Nysa shot a glare in the unconscious monks direction, "It's his fault for calling me little!"

Batalax blinked and was about to make a comment before she changed her mind. Nysa hadn't done it in a while, but she knew that if she made a comment about the thief's height she would probably be tackled to the pavement as Nysa shouted out her favorite catch phrase, _'you can't say that if you're dead!' _Yes, it's much better if I keep silent. She thought to herself.

Shinra handed over the Com-spheres. "Here. Free of charge."

Nysa grinned at him, "Thanks kid. Keep up the good work!" She looked over the unconscious monk, "If these jerks give you trouble again, just call B or me. We'll deal with them."

"Why are we getting them free of charge?" Batalax asked, her voice perplexed.

The thief just shook her head, "I'll tell you later, right now, we need to get back to Bevelle and make sure Souron and Kayden havn't gotten themselves arrested."

----------------

"Well, that went well." Souron commented idly. He watched a group of warrior monks drag Kayden away, the stoner was yelling and making quite a scene as he tried to escape. Apparently, Kayden had been seen when he had rescued rescued Xander and Akail after Xander had been shot, all those months ago.

"Nysa and Batalax are not going to be happy about this." Souron said to himself before turning his eyes back to what was left of their failed plan. Putting on a BBQ with fiend meat was a lot harder than they had expected. He had forgotten that fiends turned to pireflies when they were killed. It took a lot of skill to get the fiend to die without disappearing.

Souron glanced in the direction the guards had taken Kayden, he wasn't too worried about the older man, as the stoner had teleportation abilities. He just hoped that Kayden wouldn't do something stupid and end up getting _him_ arrested too. The warriors only concern about Kayden getting arrested was that it may slow them down in getting information about where his girlfriend and the rest of the group had disappeared to. If Sarah... Skye, he mentally corrected himself, was hurt, the Fayth's would have hell to pay. He looked at the failed Barbecue once more with a sigh and decided to just leave it and head back to the Rendezvous spot. With any luck, Batalax and Nysa should be back soon.

As he headed out of Bevelle he sent a dark glare at many of the city people, they were sending him strange looks because of his clothing. In his opinion, it was they who were dressed weirdly, not him.

---

"Hey Souron," Batalax commented lazily, not looking away from the small electricity storm she was creating above the Macalania water springs.

"Where's K?" Nysa inquired, also not taking her eyes off Batalax's storm, although for different reasons. With her luck, the mage would lose control and the storm would come at her. Lightning loved to strike her; probably because of her affinity with ice.

"He was arrested." Souron carefuly observed the two girls reactions, Batalax took her eyes off the storm and looked at him disbelievingly, as Nysa screeched and did a back handspring, simultaneously bringing up a wall of ice to protect her from the storm that had headed directly at her. "Nice storm B." he commented.

Batalax turned back to her storm with a wince and quickly dissipated it, she looked over at the wall of ice with an apologetic look. "Eh heh heh.. Oops?"

Nysa peaked over the top of the ice wall, "Is the evil lightning gone?"

Souron smirked, "Yeah, it's gone."

"Oh thank Shiva." The wall of ice disappeared as if it had never been there in the first place. "B..."

"I'm sorry! It's Sourons fault!" the mage looked at him accusingly, "He distracted me!"

Nysa shrugged, she wasn't really angry, it was just fun to make Batalax nervous. "Anyways, here." She walked over to the warrior and handed him a Com Sphere. She gave him quick instructions about how it worked before looking back at Batalax. "Should we wait for Kayden, or should be head to the Cloister of trials now?"

"No wait is necessary." Souron commented and pointed across the springs. Kayden had just appeared looking fine if not a little worse for wear.

"You alright?" Batalax asked, half shouting.

"No need to shout," Kayden replied appearing directly in front of her causing her to take a quick step back and shoot a flare off in his direction out of instinct.

Nysa visibly winced as she saw the spell connect. She rushed forward and grabbed her cousin before he could fall backward into the springs. "Shit, Queen D, don't sneak up on people! Are you alright?" she looked over him worriedly, him and Souron didn't have as high a HP count as Batalax and herself.

Batalax frowned guiltily, "Sorry!" She then looked around at the current group, and realized something rather disconcerting, none of them were proficient with white magic. Personally, she had maxed out her white magic sphere grid, but knowing how to do something, and being any good at doing that something were very different things. "Are any of you any good at casting white magic?"

Nysa shook her head, she could cast a basic cure spell, but she was better with creating cures with alchemy than casting cures with magic, although unlike Batalax, she hadn't even bothered maxing out her white magic grid once she realized that she had no talent at all with the lighter magics.

Souron just shrugged, he didn't even have a white magic section on his sphere grid. "Anybody got any potions?"

"No need." Kayden pulled himself up into a sitting position with Nysa's help, "I'm good with white magic. Remember? I was the one who healed Xander all those months ago." He started to cast cure on himself but passed out before he could finish.

Nysa shared a look with Batalax, "I'm surprised he stayed conscious that long." She pulled some items out of her pouch and carefully started mixing them together.

Batalax smiled sheepishly, "I had forgotten that we hadn't told the two of you not to sneak up on us. After being attacked by random fiends and evil Yevonites as often as we have, we've sort of gained a shoot first, ask questions later policy. It's safer that way."

Souron nodded understandingly, "That makes sense. Is it just the two of you, or the whole group that's gained the shoot first policy?"

"The whole group, well besides Akail who is usually too deep in thought to realize a battle is going on until half way through the victory dance." She wordlessly handed Nysa a Phoenix down.

"Thanks. I really need to stock up on supplies, I used most of my stock of everything trying to take down that Sin Spawn near Luca."

Batalax nodded, she remembered that. Some of the different explosions Nysa had made had been really impressive, but unfortunately it hadn't done too much damage to the spawn.

Kayden groaned as he came back to consciousness, only to have Nysa force another strange looking liquid down his throat. He made a face at the terrible taste but swallowed anyways. "What... was that?" He asked, sitting up once more. He gave the now empty bottle a look of extreme distaste.

"Hehe, that was a Personalized potion I created awhile back, I call it the C.." Nysa grinned, "The taste leaves a little to be desired, but If I added anything else to it, the potion wouldn't work as well."

"What does C.F.D stand for?" Souron asked.

"Cures Fire Damage." Batalax replied. "Nysa made it when Skye was learning how to control her power over Fire. There were a lot of accidents when we first merged with our Aeons, because unlike the magic we learn through the Sphere Grid, the magic we gained through our Aeons is tied directly to us, and our emotions. So if we got angry or something, we tended to lose control. It was worse for Skye, Nysa, Akail and myself though, as our powers are elemental."

"Tara and Xander had it a bit easier, they just had to avoid physical touch when they were emotional, as their powers mostly just increased their power levels and strength. Thus there were no actual outbursts of noticeable power. Unlike us, Skye for instance would spontaneously cause things or people around her to catch on fire when she was angry."

"Thus the need for the CFD Potions." Souron added, easily following where the conversation was going.

"We're still really careful around Tara though, because she hasn't learned how to use her Anima Overdrive, or her death ability yet. So whenever she gets angry, she goes off on her own to calm down or goes as far away from whatever is making her angry so as to not accidentally hurt somebody."

"I made specialized potions to treat any outbusts our power may cause, but the CFD is the only one we ever really needed to use, other than the occasional CED, but I was the only one who ever needed to use that one." Nysa sent a dark glare in Batalax's direction.

"CED... Cures Electricity damage?" Souron asked, sending a smirk at Nysa.

Batalax nodded. "We think it's because of her close ties to ice, but whenever I lose control of electricity, it always heads straight for her." the mage smiled sheepishly, "Thankfully, I have better control of my Aeon granted power than the others, because as a black mage, I'm already used to controlling Electricity through Thunder spells."

"Well, besides Xander, who didn't really get anything other than more strength from his Aeon."

"Well, other than that nifty instant 9999HP damage attack of his." Batalax added.

"Oh yeah!" Nysa exclaimed, and with a complete change of subject she pulled another Com Sphere out of her pouch and handed it to Kayden. She quickly explained how it worked, even though he had seen her use her own many times.

"Thanks." He equipped it quickly. "Should we head to the temple now?"

Batalax frowned up at the sky, "We've got about two hours left till nightfall, I think that's enough time."

Nysa frowned, "I disagree. The cloister of trials in Bevelle are incredibly difficult. It took us around two and a half hours to finish it the last time we were there."

"Yeah, but now we know how it's done, it'll be easier this time!" Batalax argued.

"B, I've played the game quite a few times, and I _still_ get confused with the Bevelle trials." She looked up at the sky, "Let's head back to Becca's for the night, and go to the trials at first light."

Batalax frowned but reluctantly agreed. She was really worried about the rest of their party, but figured they'd be able to make it another night without them. She turned away from Nysa, suddenly remembering the other two people with them. "What do you guys think, should we go tonight or first thing in the morning?"

Souron looked in the direction of Bevelle pensively, he really wanted to see Skye again, but he would prefer to go to the temple during the daylight hours, as he would be able to get a clearer picture of the city's layout during the day. "I agree with Nysa."

Kayden just shrugged, "I've already been thrown in jail once today, it doesn't really matter to me ether way. Souron and I didn't really go that far into Beverdelle, but it looked like a pretty big place, are you sure we'll be able to make it to the temple during the day without being spotted?"

"Bevelle." Nysa corrected, "And you make a good point, but I think they actually increase the security at night."

"So back to Becca's?" Souron asked.

"Damn skippy!"

"Mm... real beds..."

"It's all the same to me."

Nysa waved her hand with flourish and summoned Bahamut. "Let's go."

---

"Pull over!" Xander shouted, already unbuckling his seat belt and opening the door.

Skye pulled the car to a stop and watched bemusedly as Xander ran from the car and down the side road by the eye doctor place. She debated with herself for a few seconds before getting out of the car and running after him.

"Oh thank god you guys are alright!" Tara exclaimed, as she walked out of the building with Akail right behind her.

"This place is absolutely crawling with Unsents!" Akail added as he adjusted the glasses on his face, it had been so long since he had worn them that they felt weird.

"You two had a run in with them too, I gather?" Xander stated. He looked around warily, in the distance he could see smoke. "I don't see any of them though."

"Seymour ambushed us in the Kooteney Market parking lot." Tara explained. "I had pulled over because I saw someone, I hadn't realized until too late that it was an unsent until Akail stated shouting that Seymour was coming... and then the entire parking lot was filled with them."

"Then while we were escaping Tara crashed the truck." Akail added in.

"Then Seymour blew up another vehicle with a flare, and isn't it so incredibly not fair that he seems to have all of his magic while we have none of ours?" Tara continued.

"Xander and I have a bit of our power back, Ifrit and Yojimbo found us again. But I have a feeling that the power wasn't really gone to begin with, just that without their presence it was harder to access."

Tara nodded in agreement, "I know. I feel like I still have all of my power, just without a way to access it." She looked up, "Maybe we should find somewhere better to talk, I get the feeling we're not alone."

Skye nodded. "C'mon, let's get back to the car, I really don't want to be attacked, I don't know about you guys, but I'm running pretty low on supplies. I had a bunch of mega potions that we found in Zanarkand, but I seemed to have misplaced them. All I have left are two phoenix downs, four potions, and thirty ethers that I borrowed from B."

Tara reached for her own pouch and did a quick tally of her items. "I have two high potions, an elixir, and a bunch of attack items that I don't have the ability to use. I sold my mega potions to Tidus when we were on the airship."

"I have five mega potions left, twenty remedies, a couple ethers, and a bunch of grenades." Xander exclaimed.

Akail just shook his head, "When I woke up at the save point all of my items were gone, and I was kind of in a rush to get back to the group so I forgot to restock."

"We are so screwed." Skye summarized their situation.

"Let's just try not to get hurt." Xander replied as the got back to where they left the car.

Skye got into the drivers seat once more, "You just cursed us, you know?"

Xander frowned, "No I didn't, that's just superstition---" the ground beneath him seemed to shoot up into the air, causing him to fly across the street and land painfully, his own sword impaling him through the stomach.

"XANDER!" Tara screamed, her eyes going wide. Unsents were appearing all over the place once more. Not caring if the others were following her, she ran to the fallen warrior.

The car screeched in protest as Skye spun it around and drove right next to Xander and Tara. Akail stood by Tara, his own sword drawn, ready to fight off any attacks while Tara tended to the warrior.

"Help me... Help me get him in the car." Tara said, her voice panicked.

Akail nodded and helped Tara place Xander in the back seat. She followed after him, carefully pulling the warriors head into her lap. "Hold on Xander... just hold on."

Akail threw himself into the passenger seat. Skye nodded once and the car shot off like a bullet.

---

They got back to Rebecca's coffee shop just as the sun was going down. Nysa yawned slightly as she dismissed Bahamut. She led the way into the shop.

"You're back." Rebecca commented. She was once again sitting at the back of the shop in her thrown like chair.

"Hey Becca." Nysa nodded in her direction before making her way to the bar stool she had sat on earlier that day.

Kayden, Batalax and Souron shrugged and followed Nysa to the bar stools. Rebecca made her way to the other side of the bar so she was sitting opposite them. "What can my minions get for you four?"

The four of them looked over the menu and decided on what to get. As they waited for their meals they discussed their plans for the next day.

"So how are we going to get in?"

Rebecca looked up from the magazine she was reading, "You mean you guys didn't get into the temple?"

"Not yet, Nysa and I took a detour to Luca, and it took longer than we had planned, plus, Kayden got arrested."

Nysa handed her sister a Com-Sphere. "Now we can get in touch much easier. We all have one now, well besides Akail, Xander and Skye, whom we have to find before we can give them theirs."

Souron looked them over, still waiting for them to reply to his question. "So?" He prompted.

"I'm thinking we have Kayden distract the guards while we go in, and him just meet up with us in the cloister of trials." Nysa explained her plan to them in greater detail. Batalax, Souron, and Kayden added some of their own ideas, and by the time their dinner had been served, they had a pretty solid plan.

---

"Well, I think I'm going to bed." Nysa commented, "We have an early day tomorrow, and I don't want to stay up too late at the risk of getting my hours all mixed up."

Batalax nodded, "I agree. Where are the beds?"

Rebecca pointed to a door behind her thrown that none of them had noticed. "Go up the first flight of stairs, take a left and walk to the end of the hall. Take whichever rooms you want."

"Thanks Becca." Nysa stood up and gave her sister a quick hug over the counter. "See you in the morning."

The four of them headed up the stairs, Nysa leading the way. "Ooh! A save point! ---You guys," She gestured at Kayden and Souron, "--_Have_ been using save points right?"

"Never seen one before." Souron replied, as he walked over to study it.

"I used the one in the Bevelle Dungeon." Kayden said, as he too went over and activated the save point.

Once they all had saved, they headed down to the end of the hall. After quickly peaking into all the rooms, Batalax and Nysa decided to share the room on the left side of the hall, while Kayden and Souron both took a room to their selves on the right side.

Nysa walked over to the bed, and with a sigh of contentment she toed off her boots and threw herself onto it.

Batalax did much the same on the other bed. "Mm... Comfy. Never wanna move again."

"I so second that." Nysa commented softly. She rolled over so she was laying on her back. "Do you think the others are okay? I mean, the last time we talked to Tara, she said she needed help and that Seymour was after them..."

"They're strong." Batalax replied, her voice filled with resolve.

"I hope you're right." Nysa whispered.

As they were starting to drift off into sleep, there was a knock at the door. Rebecca poked her head in. "Sorry to disturb you, I'm doing laundry tonight, so if you need any of your clothing washed, just put them into the bin in the bathroom. Also, feel free to use the showers, and any of the supplies in the bathrooms. I have everything stocked as if this was a hotel for whenever I get guests. Oh, and there's spare clothing in the bathrooms if you need it."

Nysa grinned, "Thanks Becca!"

Batalax just grinned. It had been months since she had had a real shower, the closest she had had to a real shower or bath had been the hot springs on Gagazet, and that wasn't the same, as when they got out of the water it was freezing. Usually they just washed wherever the nearest river was.

"Well, As comfy as the bed is, I'm going for a shower." Nysa grinned and jumped up from the bed.

"Me too." The two girls left their room and walked to the other end of the hallway, they had looked into the room earlier, it was similar to the private showers in their high school gym locker rooms, just not quite as big.

---

The next day dawned bright and early. Nysa didn't want to get up, but she could see the faint light shining through the window signaling that it was time. She groaned softly and pushed herself into a sitting position. "That was the best sleep I've had in months.." She whispered to herself.

Moving quietly, she quickly changed out of her borrowed pajamas and back into her now clean clothing. Becca must have brought it in while they were sleeping. She noticed a pair of jeans that looked like the ones she had been wearing before Bahamut gave her the new wardrobe, so she forwent her pair of shorts that she had been wearing for the jeans. "B, time to get up." She said quietly.

"Mmm... already?" Ophelia sat up with a sigh. "That was the best sleep ever!" the mage jumped to her feet and walked over to the dresser to grab her clean clothes, "I'll meet you downstairs, since you're almost ready, why don't you go wake up the guys."

Nysa nodded, "I'm just gonna do my hair before I go." She pulled her brush out of her item pouch and quickly brushed her now almost waist length hair into a long braid. She took a minute to study her reflection in the mirror. It had been a long time since she saw what she looked like. She was shocked at the change, before she came to Spira, people would have said that she looked to be around fourteen, fifteen at most. Now she actually looked to be her seventeen years, maybe even more.

She looked at Batalax through the mirror, her hair was about chest length, she had gotten frustrated with it awhile back and cut a lot off, or it would have been longer. But the mage looked a lot more mature, and that was saying a lot, considering that you would think her outfit would have made her look younger. "Well, I'll meet you downstairs." With a quick smile at her reflection she left the room

She stepped out into the hall and knocked on the door directly across from her. "Kayden, you up?"

Kayden sat up immediately and blinked tiredly, "What time is it?"

"Time to go." Nysa replied, she was glad. Kayden had always been really easy to wake up, sure it took him awhile to be coherent, but a little caffeine would fix that easily. "There's showers down the hall. Be ready to go in a half hour."

Kayden nodded and rubbed his eyes, "Kay,"

Nysa smiled slightly and left the room to knock on the next door. "Souron, you awake?" She poked her head into the room, only to see that he wasn't there. "Huh, he must already be up. That's strange." She shook her head slightly in confusion, she had expected the two guys to be hard to wake as they weren't used to the schedule the group followed. She shrugged and headed up the stairs to her sisters room.

"Becca?" She knocked on the door. "We're leaving soon."

Rebecca rolled over and opened her eyes, immediately setting her face into a scowl, "Why are you leaving this early?" She poked her head out from under the blanked and looked out her window, the sun wasn't even fully up. "I don't understand why you're leaving this early in the morning..."

"Well, for the past like, ten months, we've been on a pilgrimage, and since we don't have electricity, we usually go to sleep shortly after the sun goes down, thus we wake when the sun comes back up."

Rebecca nodded tiredly, "That makes sense. I'm going back to bed though, lock the door on your way out. The shop doesn't open till noon."

Nysa nodded, "Sleep well Becca."

Rebecca made a noise that may or may not have been a reply before she rolled back over and went to sleep once more. Nysa watched her for about a minute before leaving the room and quietly closing the door behind her.

The four of them met in the restaurant fifteen minutes later. "Let's go."

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A/N: Wow. It has certainly been awhile since I updated this story. I've had such bad writers block, I mean, I know exactly how I want to end it, and it's so close.... but it's the getting from where I am to there that is giving me problems. I'm hoping this story will be finished really soon, like in one or two more chapters. Wish me luck!"

Constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated. I know there are a lot of errors in this chapter, and maybe some plot holes too, but it's been so long since I've wrote anything on this story that I've most likely forgotten details, so if anyone would be kind enough to point them out to me... please, feel free!


	20. The Reunion

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate, Final Fantasy 10 or 10-2. I also do not own any of the other random cameos that show up in this fic. However, the main characters are based off of real people… but I don't own them... I just make fun of them. ^_^

Chapter: Nineteen.

**The Reunion!?**

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Getting into the temple was actually quite easy, Kayden hadn't even needed to make a distraction, it seemed that most of Bevelle was in a meeting of some sort, probably over the loss of not one, but all _four_ of their precious Maesters. So basically they waltzed in with no one the wiser. Batalax was actually quite annoyed, because they had worked so hard on their plan the night before. She brushed a strand of hair away from her face and adjusted her large purple hat that she had decided to wear today. Nysa had been correct the night before, the cloister of trials was no easier the second time around. It had been over an hour and they were still stuck. She looked at the sphere in her hand, it was glowing and she thought it was rather pretty.

"Okay, where does this one go?" Kayden asked. A glowing sphere in his right hand.

"I think it goes into the empty sphere recess at the bottom." Nysa replied.

"Wait! I remember now! That one goes at the bottom and then the one I'm holding goes into the one we push which makes a new platform which will take us to the Chamber of the Fayth!" Batalax grinned, "Souron, take us to the bottom!"

Souron nodded and steered them towards the bottom. "And we're here."

Batalax jumped off the platform and placed her sphere into the recess. "Okay, now we push this to the end." She gestured for Souron and Kayden to push it.

Once the new platform had been created, Nysa led them onto it. "Bahamut better have answers..." she murmured to herself darkly.

"He will." Batalax replied optimistically.

The came to the chamber of the Fayth, "Let's go in."

Bahamut appeared immediately. **"I'm sorry."**

Nysa stepped forward determinedly. "Where are they?"

"**There was a test, to see who would stay loyal. Emily was the only one to pass." **Bahamut looked annoyed for a second before his face regained it's emotionless look. **"I had meant to send them back to your home world, but there was an interference**."

"Where are they?" Batalax repeated Nysa's question, her voice frosty.

"**They are stuck between worlds, you need to help them."**

"Send us to them." Nysa demanded.

"**I do not have control over that world, if you die there, there is no coming back."** Bahamut warned, **"also, your magic abilities will not work the same. Here, when you use magic, it is channeled through the sphere grid. But there, your sphere grid will not channel the energy for you. Six of you have been gifted by the Fayth, that is a gift that will never go away. And your Fayth wish to stay with you, until you have mastered it's abilities. But when you go to rescue your friends, your Fayth will most likely get separated from you."**

"Correct me if I'm wrong..." Batalax started, "But does that mean that the Fayth we chose, are acting in a way similar to the sphere grid, in that they are helping us channel our powers?"

"**Correct."** Bahamut looked proud. **"But you do not need them, you have gained enough control, that the Fayth within you is acting as nothing more than a..."** He paused, trying to think of a proper metaphor to use. **"A Machina escalator. It makes life more convenient, and saves energy, but it's not necessary."**

Nysa nodded slightly, "I think I understand. We still have the power, we just need to focus more to use it, it's not as easy as saying a word and pointing our finger, we have to actually feel inside ourselves for the power, and focus what we want to do with it."

Bahamut nodded. **"Precisely.****"**

Souron stepped forward, "would it be possible for the two of us to be able to summon you?"

Bahamut nodded, **"Yes, but I will not bother until you have returned, as my summoning will be useless in that world."**

"Can you send us there though, or do we need to find another way." Kayden asked quietly.

"**I have enough power to send you there, but I'm afraid you will need to find your own way back."**

Batalax nodded, she had expected as much. "Let's do this then."

Bahamut looked them all over and nodded. **"Good luck." **With a flash of light the four of them disappeared. Bahamut looked over his chamber of summoning, and quietly to himself, whispered, **"Be safe, Earthen Warriors."**

---

"Skye! Left!"

Skye veered the car to the left, her hands so tight around the steering wheel they were white. "Where next?"

"Uhh…" Akail paused quickly in thought, "We need to go somewhere with good locks, so we can re-group… hopefully a place with very little windows too."

"Hmm…" Skye frowned, "We'll go to Grady's house, it's closest."

"I don't care where we go, as long as we get there soon." Tara cradled Xanders head in her lap, "He's not going to make it if we don't stop the bleeding soon.

Skye nodded to herself, "Give him another high potion."

Tara nodded, and with a wary look at her last high potion, she poured half onto his open wound and the other half down his throat. "The wound still hasn't closed, did Xander have any poisons or status effects equipped to his sword?"

"Uhh... just Zombie, I think." Akail replied, his eyes went wide when he realized what that meant. "Fuck! We've been killing him!"

"I don't have any holy water!" Tara cried out, anguished. None of them had any holy water.

Skye swerved the car around, hitting two Unsents in the process. "I know where we can get some holy water; St. Rita's Catholic Church. Nysa and I went there once to get holy water when we wanted to do a spirit cleansing on Grady's house."

Tara met her friends eyes in the rear view mirror, "Hurry Skye. He's dying."

----

"Umph!" Nysa said as she hit the cement with a thump. "Ouch..."

Batalax groaned from beside her. "I'm in pain..."

Nysa opened her eyes and carefully sat up to check herself for injuries. The only noticeable one was her head, which was bleeding slightly. Other than that she was just a bit bruised. "You alright B?"

"I'm alright." Batalax replied. She gingerly felt her head and winced when her hand came back bloody. She reached into her pouch and grabbed a Potion. Quickly downing it, she handed one to Nysa.

"Thanks." Nysa downed the potion and stood up, only to gasp in surprise. "Camelot?"

Emily frowned and sat up, "As in..."

"Right above my house on Earth."

"Where's Souron and Kayden?" Batalax asked. She noticed they were no where to be seen. "Do you think they made it here alright?"

"Only one way to find out." Nysa replied before activating her Com-Sphere. "Souron."

"_Ny? Where are you?"_

"Camelot." Nysa replied before remembering that he was newer to the group and would have no idea where Camelot was. "It's the name Tara and I gave the Tennis Courts by my house." She looked at Batalax who was studying the puddle of excitement intently. "Where are you, and is Kayden with you?"

"_Kayden's right beside me, and we're... well, I'm not exactly sure. I think we're up the mountain by your house, it looks really familiar. Well except for the gateway, but that's familiar in a whole nother way."_

"Hold on a second, I'm gonna turn the com sphere off for a second." She disconnected the call. "B? Call Souron's name as loud as you can towards the mountain, I want to see if he's close enough to hear us."

"Souron! Can you hear me?!" She yelled.

A couple seconds of quiet later a faint yell was heard, "Yeah!"

Nysa grinned and activated her com-sphere again. "Well, now we know you're close by. So, what were you saying about a gateway?"

"_Well, it looks like a Stargate, it even has a DHD---"_

"---Really? There's one in Spira too. You may have just found us a way home." Nysa grinned. The com sphere suddenly went dead, but before Nysa could worry about it, Souron and Kayden walked down the path and could be seen on the other side of the fence surrounding Camelot.

"Hey!" Batalax grinned and waved Mr. Tikki in the air. Once the two males had joined them in the fenced in area Batalax sat on the ground and closed her eyes.

"What is she doing?" Kayden stage whispered.

"I'm attempting to focus my Magic." Batalax replied curtly.

"Good idea, B." Nysa replied. "There's a very good chance that we will be attacked by Unsents and Seymour, if my last conversation with Tara is to be believed." She joined her friend on the ground.

Souron and Kayden shared a look before also joining them, they were a little skeptical about it though, as neither of them knew that many spells to begin with, both of them being more into the physical sphere grids than their magic ones. Although Kayden figured it would be handy to be able to use his white magic.

"There you are..." Nysa murmured as she opened her eyes and cast a fira at one of the near by trees. She had found it quite easy to locate and channel her power as before going to Spira she had been quite proficient at meditating. She had had nothing better do do with her time, after all.

Batalax found her power shortly after, and cast a flare into the sky just to make sure she still could. She sat back quietly and studied Kayden as he tried to access his powers. Souron wasn't even attempting, as he figured he could get by well enough with his physical abilities.

"Ah ha!" Kayden cried out fifteen minutes later, "Found it." He frowned to himself, "Let's just hope I can find it again when I need it, haha."

"Let's go find the group." Nysa commanded.

"First, I'll see if I can contact them." Batalax exclaimed. "Tara." she activated her Com sphere.

"_B?"_

"Oh thank Tikki, it's good to hear your voice. Where are you?"

"_You're not gonna believe it, but we're in a place that looks exactly like Castlegar, just filled with Unsents."_

"Oh.. I believe it." Batalax replied. The four of them were walking down the hill towards Nysa's house as she spoke. "We're here too. We came to rescue you guys."

"_Seriously?!"_

"Of course. We told you that cave was evil!"

"_Where are you? We'll come to you."_

"We're by Nysa's house." Batalax replied.

"_Okay. I gotta go. We'll be there as soon as we can."_

"See you soon." Batalax replied as the line went dead.

"So, what's the plan?" Nysa asked.

"They're going to meet us here." Batalax said. She shivered slightly when she looked around the empty street. "I hope they get here quickly, this place gives me the creeps. It's like a nightmarish version of our cozy, too small for it's own Starbucks town."

"Souron, is the Stargate look alike directly on the path?" Nysa inquired thoughtfully.

"Not exactly. It's at the top of the hikers path and through the woods to the left. You can't miss it if you're actually actively looking for it, why?"

"Okay. Souron, Kayden. You two stay here and wait for the others. Batalax and I are going to go check out the Stargate and see if we can remember the gate address for Guadosalam."

"Okay. We'll meet you up there when the others get here." Souron replied.

Batalax grinned, "wish us luck."

"We're gonna need it." Nysa added, knowing that both herself and Batalax had terrible memories, and that both of them were the only ones who had seen the Guados activate the Spiran Stargate. With one last look, the two girls turned on their heels and headed back up the hill.

---

Skye and Akail came out of the Church at a run, "Got it." Akail said as he climbed into the passengers seat once more. "Here," He handed the bowl of holy water to Tara.

Skye started the car up once more. "Let's get to Grady's."

"No." Tara replied distractedly, "B just called, we're meeting them at Nysa's house. I think they have a way out of here." she poured a good portion of the holy water onto Xanders open wound, and another good portion into his mouth. A few seconds later she uncorked her last elixir and did the same. She smiled in relief when the wound closed.

"Batalax's here? Nysa too?" Akail demanded.

"Yeah..." Tara closed her eyes tiredly, it was getting dark out, and with the fog, it made it incredibly hard to see.

---

"I've got a bad feeling..." Batalax murmured, holding Mr. Tikki up for more light.

"Me too." Nysa replied. She looked around warily, she couldn't see anything following them, but that didn't mean nothing was. She looked up and noticed that instead of the black sky she was expecting the sky was blood red. "Creepy..."

"There you are..." A voice startled them both.

"Who's there?" Nysa centered herself so she would be ready to cast a spell if necessary.

"Goodbye summoner Nysa." The voice spoke once more, the icy tone really familiar to both girls.

Batalax was the one to figure it out, "Seymour!"

"Why goodbye, you going somewhere?" Nysa taunted. She was trying to locate where the voice was coming from, but it seemed to surround them, as if it was coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once.

"No. You are." Seymour replied as he stepped out from behind a tree.

Nysa frowned and took a step forward, she didn't even have time to put her foot down before her whole world twisted and the ground seemed to swallow her whole.

"NYSA!" Batalax screamed. She looked at where her friend used to be. "Nysa?!" She looked around worriedly, "Where are you?" She could hear a scraping sound coming from beneath her, and had to bite back the bile trying to come up her throat. It hadn't been a trick of the light... Nysa had been buried alive.

---

"Pull over, I think that's Dana!" Akail exclaimed as they came up the road Nysa lived on.

Skye pulled the vehicle over, and jumped out. "Dana! Where's Nysa and B?"

Tara gave Xander a phoenix down. "You okay?" She asked softly as he regained consciousness.

"Urhh, What happened?"

"You got sent airborne and ended up falling on your own sword." Akail replied.

Xander frowned, "Oh. Ouch. I'm guessing you guys saved me? Thanks."

Tara smiled, "You're welcome, just never do that again."

The warrior sent her a sheepish look, "I'll try not to."

Akail followed Skye out of the car, Tara and Xander followed shortly after.

"Nysa and B are up the mountain, they think there's a way for us to get back to Spira there." Kayden replied. He glanced over at Nysa's house, "Souron! They're here let's go!"

Souron stepped out of the garage with a smirk, but it quickly turned into a full blown smile when he saw Skye. "Sarah..." He whispered.

"Grady?" Skye blinked rapidly as if not believing her eyes before throwing herself at him, "Oh my god!"

Tara smiled before turning away to give the two some privacy. "Let's head up the mountain then, anywhere is better than here."

The rest of the group wholeheartedly agreed. So as a group, the six of them headed up the mountain.

---

Batalax glanced up at where Seymour had been but there was no sign of him. She dropped to her knees and put her head to the ground, she could hear movement under the ground as if Nysa was trying to dig her way out. "Nysa, you can do it! Keep it up, as soon as I see your hands I'll pull you out!" She said, half shouting, so the thief would hear her. Batalax had never felt so helpless before, she would have loved to start digging her friend out but knew that if she started digging there was a very good chance that she would make things worse and cause more of the ground to cave in and further crush her friend.

It seemed like hours but it was probably only a few minutes before the mage saw the tips of Nysa fingers. She immediately braced herself and grabbed the thief's hands using all of her strength to pull her out of the ground.

They both fell as Batalax overbalanced. Nysa started coughing, trying to refill her lungs with air. Barely conscious of what she was doing, the thief created four ice walls surrounding them, protecting them from anything that would try and hurt them.

The mage climbed one of the walls and looked over it despairingly, her long dark hair obstructing her view slightly, "It's no use. I don't see Seymour or any Unsents." she frowned and quickly corrected herself, "I mean, I don't think they're there."

Nysa sighed heavily, "Ca—can you help—" she broke off into a coughing fit. She grew concerned when she realized she was coughing up blood. "…Ouch."

Batalax quickly jumped down from the wall and rushed to her friend, "Don't strain yourself Ny." She saw what had the other girl panicking, "Oh god…"

"B--- we… need to get movin—" Nysa's body shook with coughs. "… not safe… to stay… here."

"I know… but you shouldn't move…" Batalax did a quick assessment of her friends' condition. The thief's left leg was shattered, she had at least four broken ribs, she had a gash on her head that was bleeding profusely, and her hands were scraped down to the bone from digging her way out of the ground. And those were just the wounds that were clearly visible. "No… you stay here, I'll go get help."

"Please--- don't…go.." Nysa's eyes softly closed. "M'…tired.."

"Nysa… god! Open your eyes!" Batalax gently pulled the girl into her arms, "Nysa…wake up…" She looked down at her friends face, "… Tracy, wake up!"

"… B?" the thief whispered, her eyes still closed, "I'm… cold."

"Tracy… stay with me, just open your eyes." The mage whispered anxiously.

"M' names---Nysa. Not… Tra—" she broke off into another coughing fit.

Batalax looked up at the blood colored sky, "Somebody help us… please.." She tried the com-sphere, "Souron? Please, answer me…"

"_B?"_

"Oh thank god."

"_What's wrong? We're on our way to you guys right now."_

"Seymour attacked. Nysa's really hurt.... I don't know if potions are gonna be enough, we need to get her to a really good white mage immediately."

"_We'll hurry our pace then, didn't you mention that Tara is an amazing white mage?"_

"Yeah, but I don't think we have time for her to figure out how to use her power here... Souron, she's really hurt." Batalax frowned. "I gotta go, please hurry." she turned the com sphere off and looked down at Nysa.

Nysa looked up at her friend through half closed eyes, "I've got…" She broke off into a coughing fit but was determined to finish her sentence. "I've got a…craving for tacos."

Batalax choked on a sob. "Hold on, I'll heal what I can." She uncorked a couple high potions and started pouring them on the open wounds she could see, starting with the thief's hands and head wound.

"Ophelia? You guys in there?" Akails voice came from outside the icy barrier a couple minutes later.

"Yeah, hold on a second." She turned to Nysa, "Can you take down the barriers?"

Nysa nodded slightly and closed her eyes in concentration. The four walls melted instantaneously, causing the entire group to get soaking wet.

Tara gasped when she saw the condition her friend was in, she looked almost as she had in the vision Bahamut had sent her all those months ago to get her to join the pilgrimage. The vision of what would happen to Nysa if she wasn't with her. "Oh Gods..."

"You guys watch over her, I'm going to dial us back to Spira. Hopefully." Batalax walked past the group and up the path a bit more where the Stargate stood proudly. She closed her eyes in concentration, trying to remember which sequence of buttons the Guado had pressed to get them back to Guadosalam. It came back to her quickly. She pressed the buttons and stepped back. "You guys ready?"

The other six party members nodded, Akail was carrying Nysa, who was drifting in and out of consciousness. "Let's go."

The group stepped through the portal in two groups, Xander, Skye, Souron, and Kayden went first with their weapons drawn, and Batalax, Tara, and Akail who was carrying Nysa went next.

----

Luck seemed to be on their side, it was the middle of the night, so no one was guarding the gate. "Let's get Ny to Djose Temple, I'm sure they'll have a priest there who can heal her. I mean, Tara can heal most wounds, but she's never healed broken bones before."

Tara nodded in agreement. "Come on, let's get to Djose. We can summon Bahamut as soon as we get to the Moonflow."

The group stealthily made their way through Guadosalam, praying that no one woke up and attacked them. They had to be especially careful in this town as it was Seymours home town. "Okay, we're clear." Tara exclaimed. It took her a few seconds to contact him, but once she did, she easily summoned Bahamut.

Twenty minutes later they landed outside the Djose temple. "C'mon, let's get her inside!" Batalax led Akail, Xander and Tara into the temple, while Souron, Kayden and Skye kept guard outside.

"Hey! Is anybody awake?!"Akail shouted. "Help!"

A priest came out of one of the side rooms, "What is it you... oh my! This way, this way. What happened?" He led them into the other side room and had Akail place Nysa down on one of the beds. After squinting at the group for a couple seconds in a way that made them sure he was casting SCAN, he had Xander lay down on one of the other beds.

"We were attacked by Fiends at the moonflow, she took the worst of it." Akail lied.

The priest immediately went to work at healing her wounds, "Are these your guardians?" He addressed Batalax.

Batalax frowned, "In a sense, but they're my friends more than my guardians, we've all known each other for a long time." She replied. "Is Ny...ah going to be okay?" She changed Nysa's name last minute remembering that it was quite known.

"Your friend Nyah is going to be just fine, it's a good thing you got her to me so fast, any longer and her ribs would have punctured a lung which is much more difficult to heal." The priest replied.

He turned his attention to Xander, "Has no one ever told you that serious wounds are _not_ to be treated with curative potions? They stop bleeding and close external wounds... but they do very little to actually heal the internal damage. It's a good thing you came to me or there's a very good chance you would have internally bled out within the next day."

Tara and Akail shared a look, they had _not_ known that.

Xander tried to look interested, but was only now realizing just how tired he was. "Really? Fuck."

"Yes, well then." The priest murmured, before going over and starting to heal Xander. Within minutes the warrior was unconscious, and the priest was stepping away, panting softly. He hadn't done this much serious healing since the failed Operation Mi'hen. He turned towards Batalax. "I'm going to ask that they not be moved for the next twenty four hours, healing bones and other internal injuries is tricky business, it's always good to wait a day to make sure the healing is finished so as to not risk causing further harm."

Batalax frowned, "Right, is it okay if we stay in here with them?"

The priest nodded, "Of course, the three of you are more than welcome to stay here. I warn you now though, they most likely won't wake up till tomorrow evening at the earliest. Having as much healing done on you as I did on them is bound to leave them feeling exhausted for a couple days, so even after you leave, you need to make sure they take it easy."

Batalax nodded, "Okay. I'll be right back." She walked out of the side room and headed outside, "Hey guys."

"How is she?" Skye asked, her voice full of concern.

"Mr. Priest-guy said she'll be fine, but she can't be moved for twenty-four hours at the risk of re-hurting herself. Xander is also being treated, it turns out you're not supposed to use potions to cure internal wounds."

"Crap. Is he okay?" Skye asked with a noticeable wince, "I can't believe we didn't know that!"

Batalax nodded. "The priest said that they'll both have to take it easy for awhile, as they'll tire out really easy. But they'll be fine."

"That's good." Kayden replied.

"What's the plan now?"

Batalax inwardly frowned, why were they asking her, she wasn't the leader. "Tara, Akail and I are gonna stay the night here with them." She paused in thought. "Why don't the three of you, head to Becca's and we'll meet you there tomorrow afternoon."

Souron nodded, "Sounds good. But didn't you say they weren't allowed to be moved for twenty four hours?"

Batalax laughed, "Do you honestly think that's gonna stop Nysa?"

Souron went silent for a couple moments. "Good point."

"We'll see you guys tomorrow, okay?" Skye said, as she started dragging Souron away. She had barely let go of his hand since she saw him standing outside Nysa's house.

"Goodnight,"

---

Nysa sat up with a sharp intake of breath. "I've got it!"

The warrior on the bed across the room opened his eyes with a wince and sat up, blinking blearily. "Got what?" he asked. He yawned tiredly.

Nysa jumped off the bed and quickly climbed back onto it when the world started to sway. "err..." she waited for the world to stop spinning around her.

"You okay?" Xander asked, suddenly waking up enough to remember where they were and why they were there.

"Fine..." Nysa replied distractedly. "But I've got it!" She looked at him once more her eyes sparkling with delight. After waiting for a couple seconds for dramatic purposes she finally couldn't keep it to herself any longer.

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"I know how we're going to defeat Sin."

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A/N: Woo! Almost done!


	21. Rise to meet the END

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate, Final Fantasy 10 or 10-2. I also do not own any of the other random cameos that show up in this fic. However, the main characters are based off of real people… but I don't own them... I just make fun of them. ^_^

Chapter: Twenty.

**Rise to meet the end!?**

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"I see you found them. Where's Tracy?" Rebecca demanded as soon as Souron, Skye and Kayden walked through the door.

Skye blinked with a confused expression, why was Rebecca awake? It was like four in the morning. She then shook her head to clear it. Rebecca was always awake at this time. "She's at Djose Temple."

"The rescue mission was a success," Souron added. His hand tightened around Skye's slightly.

"Where's the rest of the party, and why is my sister there and not here?" Rebecca looked at them suspiciously.

"Nysa was hurt.. a little bit." Kayden started, "She'll be fine!" he was quick to reassure. He remembered clearly how protective Rebecca was of her little sister. "But it'll take her a couple days before she's back to full health." he added.

Rebecca frowned, "A couple days?! With healing as easy as it is here? Who hurt her?" The shop owner looked as if she was gong to go out and find whoever had hurt her sister, and if she found that person, no one would ever find their body.

"Seymour." Skye replied with a yawn. "Becca, it's alright, Nysa will be fine. Her and Xander'll just be a little tired for the next couple days."

"Xander was hurt too?" Rebecca demanded. Honestly, she couldn't remember which of Tracy's friends was going by Xander. She wanted to know what had happened! "Fine. You three look exhausted, go to bed. But we _will_ talk about this later."

Kayden nodded, "We'll talk about it tomorrow afternoon when the rest of the group gets here."

"Fine." Rebecca locked the door behind them and walked around the bar into the kitchen.

The three Earthlings left in the room winced, "Becca's older by six years...I had forgotten how overprotective she is of her sister. She doesn't have need to show it much, as Nysa is usually very capable of taking care of herself. I mean, Becca took a year off school so she could be home with Nysa when she first got sick."

Souron blinked, he hadn't known that. To him, it had always seemed like Nysa was the one who was overprotective of Becca, not the other way around.

Skye just nodded, in her opinion, Becca was scary.

"Let's get some sleep, it's been a long day." Souron commented before leading them up the stairs. Him and Skye took the room he had stayed in the last time, while Kayden took a room further down the hall for obvious reasons.

-----

"**It's almost over."** Shiva commented idly. She looked out the open doors of the Remiem Temple. **"Our chosen are ready to fight without us."**

"**Are they?"** Ifrit asked skeptically.

"**They are."** Bahamut replied. **"They are stronger than we gave them credit for."**

"**We're almost done. Soon, we will finally get our rest." **The Magus Sisters smiled cheerfully and spun around the room.

"**Where are the others?"** Yojimbo demanded. He was leaning up against one of the side walls with his arms crossed.

"**They got lost while searching for their chosen on the otherworld."** Bahamut replied. **"They will be here soon."**

"**Are we sure that the chosen are going to be able to free us from the future we saw?" **Ixion asked.

"**I am sure. I was sure when I picked them, and though they went off the path once, they are back on it."** Bahamut sighed, **"I just wish there was an easier way."**

"**The others have arrived."** Shiva interrupted. She watched as Valefor and Anima walked up the bridge to the Temple.

"**I apologize for our lateness. While in the otherworld, I dealt with something I should have dealt with years ago." **Anima said softly. She walked past her fellow Fayth and leaned against the back wall pensively.

Valefor just nodded once and sat down in the middle of the temple. **"And now we wait."**

"**Yes."** Bahamut replied softly. He sat next to where Shiva was standing by the entrance. **"Now we wait."**

----

"You know how we're going to defeat Sin?" Xander exclaimed, "How?"

"Well, in the final battle, after they defeated Jecht, Yuna summoned all of the Aeons one by one and as Yu Yevon possessed them, she fought them, and as she defeated them, she sent them to the Farplane."

"Until there was nothing left for Yu Yevon to possess." Xander continued her line of thinking. He carefully stood up and made his way to her bed before sitting again, this way they didn't have to talk so loud to hear each other.

"Yes. And that is when they defeated Yu Yevon." Nysa Finished.

Xander frowned, "Okay.. you lost me, what does that have to do with how we're going to defeat Sin?"

"We're not going to defeat Sin. In fact, it would probably be best if we don't even go into Sin. We're going to preform the Final Sending right as Yuna and her guardians defeat Jecht."

"So the Aeons will be gone before she even gets to Yevon!" Xander replied. "But why won't we be in Sin during this?"

"Well, the way I see it, the six of us, are the closest thing normal humans can get to being Fayths. I don't think we should take the chance that Yu Yevon may possess us. We'll join the battle once the Aeons have been sent, that way we will have no ties left to them... thus we wont have to worry about being posessed." Nysa replied. She then groaned when she realized the condition her clothing was in, "Gyah, I just had this all washed! Thank the Fayth that all of our clothing seems to have some sort of indestructible quality to it. But seriously, it looks like I was rolling around in a mud puddle."

"Well it wasn't exactly a puddle..." Xander started, "It was more, you got covered in dirt, and then got soaked, so the dirt stuck."

"By the way, Xand..." in a complete change of thought Nysa looked around and realized she didn't recognize anything in the room they were in. "Where exactly are we?"

"We're in the Djose Temple." He replied. "Both of us needed healing, and Tara didn't know if she would be good enough to do it."

"She needs more Faith in her abilities." Nysa exclaimed, "No pun intended." she added with a smirk.

"Oh! You're awake!" The priest seemed startled. He walked further into the room. "How are you both feeling? Any aches, or left over pain?"

Nysa did a quick inventory of her body, she wiggled both feet and hands, " I'm fine, just tired, and a little dizzy," She replied honestly.

"Same, just minus the dizziness." Xander replied. "I feel like I could sleep for a week."

The priest nodded knowingly, "I wasn't actually expecting the two of you to be awake for a couple more hours, and I never expected in a million years that you would be a coherent as you are." He smiled down at them, "If you hold on a minute, I will go retrieve your friends and summoner, they are quite worried."

Nysa nodded and leaned back against the wall the bed was up against. "I can't believe we're almost done..."

"It's almost time for us to go back to our ordinary lives..." Xander continued.

"Yeah..." Nysa suddenly remembered that she hadn't told the group her plans. "About that..."

"It's okay Ny, I already know." He met her eyes, "You're not coming with us are you?"

Nysa blinked up at him, astonished. "How did you know?"

"I've never seen you as happy back home as you are here, it's like you were always meant to be here." He gave her a one armed hug, "Tara didn't take the news well did she?" He made it out to be a question, but they both knew it was more of a statement.

"No, you saw her reaction back on Gagazet." Nysa agreed.

"Oh, so that's---"

"You're awake!" Batalax bounced into the room. She grinned at the two recovering summoners and hopped onto the bed Xander had slept in. "We just have to wait for Tara before we go. She'll be by in a bit, Priest Lanemt is teaching her more about white magic, because while she has the ability to use it, she doesn't know how to heal the more serious things. And we don't want another situation like last night.

Akail followed at a more sedate pace. "You both look much better than you did last night."

Nysa frowned down at her muddy clothing once more, "You mean it's possible to look worse?" She then grinned and pulled two com-spheres out of her bag. "Akail, Xander, we got these for you." She handed them each one and gave them a brief summary about how to equip it.

"Oh! Awesome!" Akail grinned and quickly equipped it, "I've been planning on getting one for awhile, but the opportunity never came up."

"Any idea what time it is?" Xander asked. He equipped his own com-sphere at a much more sedate pace.

"Around two pm, I think." Batalax replied, not looking away from the weird artifact she was having a staring contest with.

"Where are the others?" Nysa asked. She realized that they weren't in the room, and that no one had mentioned them, she hoped that they had made it out of EvilCastlegar alright.

"They're at Becca's." Akail replied. He moved over to the bed and sat next to Batalax. "We should be getting back to them soon, are the two of you alright to move?"

"Sure."

"Maybe."

Batalax turned away from the relic, she would call for a rematch later. "Maybe?"

"Yeah, as long as I don't have to walk very far, I'm kinda really dizzy." Nysa replied. "It feels similar to when I overdosed on X-potions that one time on Gagazet."

"We'll be flying, so it won't take long to get there... maybe an hour, two hours at most." Batalax exclaimed. The four friends fell in to a comfortable silence, all getting lost in their own thoughts.

Around three hours later, Tara poked her head through the open door. She gave the group a once over. Batalax and Akail were sitting on one of the beds playing cards, while Xander and Nysa were leaning against each other shoulder to shoulder on the other bed, both of them fast asleep. "Are you guys ready to go?" Tara asked quietly. She walked further into the room and gave them a half smile.

"Sure, I think." Batalax exclaimed quickly. She was glad for the distraction, as Akail was kicking her ass at go fish. She did not want to let him win.

"We've just got to wake those two, they drifted off around an hour and a half ago." Akail replied. He quickly stood up and stretched his legs, he wasn't used to sitting for long periods of time anymore. "How did the magic lesson go?"

Tara smiled, "It went really well. It turns out that with white magic, once you learn the abilities on the Sphere Grid, you are supposed to destroy the white magic section of the grid. Apparently, white magic is much better channeled through our own bodies and not the grid. It's actually quite similar to how we merged with the Aeons. I've merged with the White Magic. Now, it's not just a tool that I'm good at using, it's a part of me." She explained.

"I think I understand that. It reminds me of something Bahamut said." Batalax replied.

Akail just smiled in a way that said he had no idea what they were talking about but he would never admit it. "I'll wake the others."

----

"I just got off the Com-sphere with Akail. He said they'll be here in about an hour and a half." Skye whispered. She let the door of the restaurant close behind her and joined her long missed boyfriend. He was standing outside watching the sunset. With an easily remembered ease, she slipped her hand into his. "It's beautiful here, isn't it."

"Yeah." he smiled down at her. After a few moments of peaceful silence, he spoke once more. "This place seems to have done you a lot of good, it's like you finally found yourself. I've never seen you so sure about your abilities before. Well, besides when you're singing."

The female assassin just smiled and turned her eyes back to the sunset, there was no need for words in a situation like this. She leaned up against him, "I'm glad you're here."

The door behind them opened. It startled them both out of their thoughts, and they both turned to see who had came out. It was Kayden.

"Hey." they addressed him simultaneously.

Kayden smiled and finished putting on his block cloak. "Hey." he answered back. "I'm going to make a quick trip to the travel agency down the road; stock up on supplies."

"We'll come too." Skye exclaimed. "I'm almost completely out of everything, it's been a couple weeks since I last stocked up."

Souron just shrugged, "Are we walking?"

"Nah, Becca said we can borrow her Chocobo's again." Kayden replied.

---

Tara smiled as the coffee shop came into view. This would be her first time seeing the inside of it. She looked to her left and had to stifle a laugh. Nysa was leaning up against her, and it looked as if she was trying really hard to stay awake. She would close here eyes, and then a couple seconds later, she would sort of jolt as she forced herself to stay conscious. She looked to her right and suddenly found it impossible to hold her laughter in. Xander was passed out against Akail. She had never seen Akail look so embarrassed.

Batalax looked back at her, "Whatchya laughing at?"

Tara didn't even bother answering, instead, she shouted, "B! Pay attention to where you're driving!"

Batalax winced when she noticed she was about to hit the coffee shop. "Woo!" She pulled the dragon into a dive that had Tara covering her eyes and praying to Anima that they wouldn't crash.

"You can open your eyes now T." Batalax laughed and jumped off the dragon, she had stopped it directly in front of the door. "Xand, Ny, wakey wakey!"

Xander sat up abruptly and wiped the drool away from his mouth. "Are we there?"

"Yep." Akail replied. He quickly jumped off the dragon to get away from Xander. "Let's get inside."

Nysa blurredly opened her eyes, "We there already?" she crawled and half stumbled off the dragon. "Whoa..."

"Careful Nysa." Tara steadied the long haired thief, "Priest Lanemt said that you would have to take it really easy so as to not hurt your leg or ribs again."

Nysa nodded and allowed the blond to lead her into the coffee shop, she vaguely saw a flash of light out of the corner of her eye signaling that Batalax had sent the Dragon Aeon away.

Once the five of them were sitting at a table in the coffee shop, Tara smiled at Rebecca. "Hey Becca, where are the others?"

"They went to get supplies, they said you all were running low." Rebecca replied. She walked over to the table and sat down across from her sister. Nysa had her head down on the table and looked as if she was trying really hard to stay awake. "So, are you guys going to tell me what happened?" She looked to the chair to her right, Xander was in a position much like Nysa. To her left sat Batalax, the mage wasn't paying attention, instead choosing to study the menu behind the bar.

Tara and Akail flanked Nysa on the other side of the table. "We were sent to a place that looks very similar to Castlegar... If Castlegar were actually a town out of the Silent Hill Games." Akail replied.

"We were only there for about a day, until we got a call from Batalax saying that they were there to rescue us and that we should meet them at your house." Tara continued. "About two hours before we got that call, we thing one of the Unsents used some sort of earthquake spell. It threw Xander across the road by Mohawk, and as he had his sword out at the time, he somehow managed to impale himself."

"I have zombie status on my sword." Xander explained tiredly. "They didn't know, and tried to treat me with high potions. It didn't work--"

"--And did you know that you're not supposed to treat serious wounds with potions anyways?" Tara cut in. "I'm a white mage, and yet I hadn't known that... there should be warnings on the bottles or something. If this was Earth, I'd sue!"

"We went to some catholic church Rita or something, and robbed them of their holy water. None of us had any left after building up our sphere grids in Zanarkand." Akail leaned back in his chair so it was only touching the ground with the two back legs, "So that's how Xander got hurt, Batalax can explain how Nysa got hurt."

"Seymour ambushed us and used the opposite of the attack used on Xander. Instead of the ground spitting her across an area..." Batalax faltered, not sure how to word the next sentence.

"...It swallowed me whole." Nysa whispered, her voice haunted. Digging herself out of what would have ended up as her own grave, was something that would give her nightmares for a long time to come.

Rebecca's eyes narrowed. "Where is Seymour now?" she asked, her voice coming out as a deadly whisper.

Nysa lifted her head slightly, "I don't know."

"I don't think we'll have to worry about him anymore." Tara reassured. "I don't know why, but I just have a- a— feeling... that he won't be bothering us anymore."

There was a small ringing of bells as the door to the shop opened and a group of two walked in. Rebecca smiled apologetically and stood up to greet them. "Welcome to Bobs, How may I take your money today?"

Nysa's head thumped back down onto the table in exasperation. "Only my sister would model her business skills after a greedy thousand year old ex- vengeance demon."

"Hey I'm gunna call Rikku. See when they'll be able to meet us, so we can talk." Nysa suddenly exclaimed. She activated her com Sphere. "Rikku."

"_Rammu?"_

"Hey, Rikki," Nysa replied, to tired to speak Al Bhed.

"_Nysa? Hey! It's been eons since we talked!"_

"Rikku. It's been like four days." the sound of Rikku's giggling filled the com-sphere. "Anyways, I have a reason for calling, have you guys finished obtaining your ultimate weapons?"

"_Not yet. I think It'll be another week or two before we're done. We still have to find the last power up for Aurons weapon, and we have to find Tidus's weapon still."_

Nysa nodded to herself. "I see. Well, I can't help with Auron's weapon, but have you looked in the Calm Lands for Tidus's weapon?"

"_No, we haven't looked there. Should we?"_

"Yeah..." Nysa yawned and leaned her head back down on the table, "Call me once you have your weapons, I've figured out how to take down Sin."

"_Really?"_

"Yeah." Nysa yawned again, "Talk to you later Rikku."

"_Bye bye Nysa!"_

Nysa closed her eyes as the com-sphere shut itself off.

"You figured out how to take down Sin?" Batalax shouted.

"Yeah. Xander'll explain it to you. I'm going upstairs to bed. I've not been this tired since back on Earth." Nysa stood up, and after waiting for the world to stop swaying she headed past the group and towards the stairs.

A couple seconds later, Tara stood up. "I'm going to go talk to Ny, you guys can fill me in on the plan later, you'll have to fill Skye, Souron and Kayden in on it anyways."

---

Tara poked her head into all the rooms until she found the one Nysa was in. The thief was sitting on the bed in the lotus position with her eyes closed. Moving softly, so as to not startle her, Tara sat on the bed in the same position facing her. "I'm sorry." She whispered.

Nysa's eyes opened, "What are you sorry for?"

"For freaking out on you back at Gagazet. I was just being selfish." Tara explained. She looked guilty. "I may not be the most observant of people," she laughed lightly at her own expense. "But even I can see that coming to Spira has been the best thing that has ever happened to you."

"Tara- I--"

"--No." Tara interrupted gently, "Let me finish." She looked thoughtful, "I wanted you to come back to Earth for my sake. You're my best friend, and I didn't want to give that up. I still don't. But we're from two different worlds, and I'm going to have to live with that. I'll miss you Ny, every single day. But you have my blessing. I hope you have a really happy life here."

Nysa blinked rapidly and reached over to hug her best friend. "Thank you Tara." She leaned her head on the blonds shoulder. "I'll miss you too."

"Go to sleep Ny, I'll bring you up something to eat later, okay?" Tara said. She noticed that the other girl was falling asleep on her shoulder.

"Mm'kay." Nysa lay down on the bed and was asleep almost instantaneously. Tara watched her for a few moments before she turned off the light and left the room. The door closed softly behind her.

---

"Okay, we'll take..." Souron paused to do the math in his head. "One Hundred and Sixty High Potions." that would give them all twenty each. "Eighty Phoenix Downs." which would give them ten each. "And Forty bottles of Holy Water." He looked over the list of items in stock and sighed when he realized they didn't sell Remedies or Ethers.

The woman at the travel agency smiled and used her Al Bhed calculating device to tally up the cost. "Okay, so High Potions are five hundred Gil each, Phoenix Downs are one hundred Gil each, and bottles of Holy Water are three hundred Gil each. So that will come to... 92800 Gil."

Skye laughed lightly when she realized she was the only one with enough money to buy the supplies. Souron hadn't expected it to come to that much. "Here." she handed the woman the required Gil and in return the woman handed her the items. "Have a nice day!" Skye called out as she handed some of the High Potions to Souron as her pouch could only hold 99 of each item.

"Where's Kayden?" Souron asked. He hadn't even noticed that the stoner was gone until now.

"I think he went to go challenge that chocobo guy to a race." Skye replied. "Didn't you hear him? He said that he would meet us back at Rebecca's."

Souron shook his head, no he hadn't hear him at all. "Let's go, the others are probably back at Becca's by now."

Skye nodded and cautiously climbed back onto her borrowed chocobo. Riding the big yellow birds always made her nervous.

----

The next morning found the nine Earthlings sitting around the biggest table in the coffee shop. "So that's the plan." Nysa finished dramatically.

"It's such a simple change to the time line, I can't see it changing things too drastically." Souron pondered.

"But it's still a big enough change that the Fayth get what they brought us here for in the first place." Batalax added. She looked down and continued to play with the food in front of her, she was never hungry in the morning.

"So where will we do this?" Tara asked.

"Guadosalam." Nysa replied. "That way, we can make sure you guys get you're portal home."

"You guys...?" Skye sat up straighter, "What do you mean.. you guys? Are you not..."

Nysa visibly winced. She had forgotten that she had only told some of the group. "I forgot to mention that small fact didn't I? Well, now you know, I'm not going with you guys; I'm staying here."

before they could say anything, Batalax coughed awkwardly to get their attention. "I'm staying too."

Xander just nodded, "I'm not surprised actually. He turned to look at those that hadn't known, "Think about it guys, have you ever seen the two of them more happy than when they're here? I know I haven't."

Skye nodded reluctantly, "It's true." to lighten the mood, she looked over at Nysa, "Do you remember that Internet quiz we took that said you were born in the wrong time line and that you should have been born in the sixties? Well, I think it was wrong, I think it should have said that you should have been born in Spira."

Nysa grinned, "Is there anyway we can convince the rest of you to stay too?"

Skye grabbed onto Sourons hand and shook her head. "No way, I can't wait to go back home."

Souron just shook his head, which didn't surprise Nysa one bit, the guy was a mechanic after all, and there are no cars in Spira. The closest thing to them would be Hovers, and at the moment they were still banned as forbidden Machina.

Kayden also shook his head. "I'll miss you Ny, but this world is way too bright and goody for me. I mean, I like that most people get along in this world, but there are things I miss too much, like smokes, and Smirnoff."

Everyone laughed. Akail was the next one to shake his head, "As much as I love it here, I would miss technology too much."

Batalax nodded in understanding, she too would miss technology, but she could live without it. "What about you three, any way we can convince you guys to stay?" she addressed Rebecca, Tara and Xander.

"Not a chance. I'm not really one for adventuring more than I have to." Tara replied with a smile. She was sad that Batalax was staying, but also happy, as it meant that Nysa wouldn't be the only person from Earth left on the planet. It could get pretty lonely being the only person from an entire planet, living with people who would never understand any of your inside jokes.

Xander laughed, "I like it here, but I miss the real world, and my girlfriend."

Rebecca just frowned, "You actually think I'm leaving?" She said, shocking the entire group. "I mean, come on, I own a business that is flourishing, I have minions that are attempting to build me a computer, I'm getting rich even though I don't have to do like any actual work... and you think I'm going to leave you behind on an entirely different planet with no supervision?" the last part was directed at Nysa.

Nysa tried to look offended, but found she was laughing to hard to pull it off. "For what it's worth, I'm glad you're staying." Now that the conversation was deemed over with for the time being, the group went back to their breakfasts.

----

"Hey Cadmion," Nysa poked her head into the kitchen, "Have you seen my sister?"

"She's back in the stables. I thinks." The tall blond man replied, he turned his back on her and went back to making the meal he was working on.

"Dryhgc cu silr!" Nysa replied in Al Bhed. She grinned and skipped out of the room. It had been a couple days since they had gotten to Rebecca's coffee shop and she was only just now starting to get her energy back. At the moment the group were taking their first prolonged break since they had gotten to Spira. She had given each member of the group a charm bangle, well, besides Xander who already had one.

At the moment, Skye and Souron were off having a day to themselves in Luca, Akail was wondering around catching fiends for the monster arena, Batalax was in Besaid with Luzzu, Kayden was having rematch after rematch trying to beat the chocobo trainer in a race, Tara was wondering the world picking up souvenirs to take back to Earth, and last but not least, Xander and herself were banned from leaving the coffee shop until Tara deemed them fully healed. Supposedly, another thing she learned from Priest Lanemt was that after you have had serious healing cast on you, it would be very bad for your health to use any healing potions or have any more curative magic used on you for at least five days after. In other words, Xander and her were shop bound and extremely bored. Thus why she was looking for her sister.

"Becca?" She called out softly, as she entered the chocobo stables, she didn't want to shout loudly at the risk of startling the large birds.

"Yeah?" Rebecca replied back, appearing out of seemingly nowhere. "What?"

"I've got an idea." Nysa replied as she pulled out a video sphere. "Since we're not going back... I think we should send something to mom and dad, to let them know that we are okay."

Rebecca frowned thoughtfully, "That's a good idea. I just hate that in order to live our lives we have to leave them behind. I wonder if there is any way to keep in contact with those on Earth..."

Nysa sat down on one of the benches in the stables. "Well, there was a lot of static, but the Com-Spheres did reach through to PhantomCastlegar. Maybe Shinra would be able to increase the range of them somehow?"

"If Tara says you're able, why don't you go talk to Shinra tomorrow?"

"I'll have to do that, but for the moment... We need to record a sphere."

----

"Tidus?" Akail asked. His voice was perplexed, why would Tidus be here? "I thought you guys were looking for your ultimate weapons?"

Tidus looked up, startled. "Akail? What are you doing here?"

"I'm catching fiends for the monster arena." The assassin replied.

"Oh, cool! And yeah, I'm still looking for my Ultimate weapon, everyone else already has theirs, but Nysa hinted that I should look in the Calm Lands for mine... I think I need a bigger hint, did Nysa forget just how big the Calm Lands are?"

"Huh... so what exactly are you looking for, maybe I could help, I've been wondering the Calm Lands for days, I may have seen it."

"Well, all I know is that it's a sword, and that it's really powerful, it probably has something guarding it." Tidus replied.

"Oh! There was a guy on the far side guarding something, maybe that's it?" Akail asked.

"Could be," Tidus looked in the direction Akail was pointing, it was a long way away. "Well, I better get going."

"Wait, if we stop at Becca's we can borrow some chocobos." Akail proclaimed.

"Becca's?" Tidus asked. The name sounded familiar as if he had heard it in passing, but he wasn't sure who it was.

"Nysa's older sister owns a coffee shop in the Calm Lands, it's only around ten minutes away from here. C'mon!" Akail started to lead the way back to Becca's. "So..." he said conversationally, "Where's the rest of your group?"

"They're looking for the last power up for Auron's ultimate weapon. I'm not alone though, Rikku and Wakka are here with me, but we split up thinking we would find it faster."

"Kayden." he activated his Com-Sphere.

"_Hello?"_

"Hey, it's Akail. Have you seen Rikku or Wakka?"

"_Uh... Who and who?"_

Akail smacked his head in exasperation. He had forgotten that Kayden had only been in Spira for around a month. "Uhh, Wakka has weirdly styled orange hair and a yellow outfit, and Rikku has long blond hair, and is wearing an orange shirt and green shorts."

"_I haven't seen Wakka, but I just saw Rikku."_

"Where?"

"_She just went into my cousins shop."_

"Cool. I'm almost at the shop, talk to you later... oh, and good luck with the racing!"

"_Thanks, bye!" _

"Rikku's at the coffee shop right now, but I don't know where Wakka is." Akail said to his spiky blond headed friend.

"Cool." Tidus replied.

"And here we are!" Akail gestured ahead of them where the large shop stood.

"Tidus!" Nysa exclaimed coming from the back side of the shop with Rebecca slightly behind her. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for my ultimate weapon." Tidus replied, he suddenly got the urge to hide, the redhead behind Nysa was looking at him as if she would like nothing more than to see him die a very painful death. "Uhh.. Hi there!" he said to her.

Rebecca just shook her head and walked past the three of them into the shop. Seconds later Rikku ran out of the shop and immediately went over and hugged Nysa. "Your sister is scary." she stage whispered as if afraid the redhead would overhear her.

Nysa just laughed, "She thinks so too."

"Did you find it?" Rikku asked Tidus anxiously.

"No, but Akail thinks he knows where it is... wait, Nysa! Didn't you say you knew where my ultimate weapon was?"

"Sure! I know exactly where it is I'll take you there!" Nysa replied cheerfully, she threw her braid over her shoulder and bounced up and down slightly.

"Not happening." Akail immediately protested. "Tara would have my head if I let you leave the shop before she said you're well enough."

Nysa pouted, "But Akaaaaaail! I'm so bored!"

"No. You are free to leave soon, you just have to wait a bit longer." Akail said, his tone of voice final. "Is it where that guy is guarding the path down past the Travel Agency?"

Nysa sighed, defeated. "Yeah. That's where it is, and you don't have to worry about him guarding it, he's watching Kayden race the chocobo guy whose name I don't know."

Akail grinned, "C'mon then, let's go grab some chocobos and go get it!"

Tidus nodded and looked at Nysa, "Why can't you come?"

"Seymour came back again and attacked Batalax and I. I got hurt pretty bad and had to have a lot of curative magic cast on me, so Tara has me locked up here until she deems me well enough to get out and actually do stuff again. Thankfully, Xander is also under house arrest with me, or I'de have gone crazy!"

"Damn that Seymour..." Tidus hissed. "Oh yeah! We forgot to tell you!"

"Yuna talked to the higher ups of Bevelle, You guys have been cleared of all charges. It turns out that you guys have made quite a few friends besides us who were willing to vouch for you." Rikku smiled up at them. "So you guys don't have to hide anymore, ya know?"

Nysa grinned, "That's the best news I've heard all week!"

Akail pumped his fist into the air, "Yes!"

"Well, we should go, the rest of our group is counting on us to find my ultimate weapon by the end of the day."

Nysa nodded and turned to go back into the shop, over her shoulder she called back, "Rikku, don't forget to call me once you all have your weapons."

-----

Eight days later the group was once more sitting within Rebecca's shop, though this time, they were joined by the Spiran group. "So, that's the plan." Tara finished.

"So, Pops will drop us off on Sin and we'll go into it and fight the form it is taking right now, while Pops drops the eight of you off in Guadosalam where six of you preform the sending for the Fayth?"

"Yes, and then me and Batalax will go back to the airship and join you for the battle with Yu Yevon." Nysa finished.

"It sounds like a good plan." Yuna said softly.

The group continued to discuss the plan in greater detail for hours.

Nysa looked across the table at Tidus and then looked down, trying to work up the courage to say what needed to be said. Finally, she looked up and met Tidus's eyes. "Ti, I need to talk to you."

Tidus looked confused and scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "Sure thing.. do we need to..." he gestured to the door.

Nysa nodded sharply and tried to get her emotions under control. She stood up and walked to the door trying to hide the sadness she knew had to be showing on her face. "We'll be back in a bit." she said over her shoulder to the rest of the two mingling groups as she led the star blitzball player out of the room.

Tidus stayed silent as they walked along the Calm Lands, absurdly, the only question on his mind was why they weren't being attacked by Fiends. The last time he had walked along the Calm Lands, he had been attacked nearly every ten feet. "So," he prodded once they were a good distance from Rebecca's coffee shop, "You needed to talk to me?"

Nysa stopped walking, her back turned to him. "You heard the plan."

Tidus stopped walking too. "Yeah. I did." he replied, softly.

Nysa turned to face him, suddenly noticing how much taller he was than her. She was five foot five while wearing her combat boots, five foot three without them, while Tidus had to be at least five foot eleven. "When we send the Fayth, do you know what is going to happen?"

Tidus's eyes widened. "I had forgotten you knew..."

"Are you okay with this?" Nysa watched his face carefully. She looked down and nervously started playing with the end of her braid. "If we do it like this, you won't even make it to the final battle."

Tidus looked over the thief's shoulder at the setting sun. "I've known for awhile that Sin was going to be my final battle..."

"You won't even make it to Yu Yevon." Nysa said quietly. "You're last battle will be with Sin's newest incarnation."

"Jecht." Tidus finished. "The last battle I fight will be with my father?"

Nysa nodded. "Hn. Immediately after the battle, Yu Yevon will attack, so there will be very little time for goodbyes."

"Is there no way for me to stay just a little longer? If I disappeared right before the final battle, wouldn't it distract Yuna?" Tidus said, his voice sad, as if he was grasping at straws and not being fast enough to catch them.

"If there were any other way... you know that I would take it in a heartbeat right?" Nysa said seriously. She internally debated with herself for a minute on if she should give him the next bit of information. "Tidus... You know how I mentioned that in my world, this---" she gestured wildly. "All of this... is a video game?"

"Yeah... that's not a conversation I'm going to be forgetting any time soon."

"There was something I didn't tell you all." Nysa hesitated and met his eyes. "The game has a sequel. It starred Yuna, Rikku and a woman named Paine. At the end of the game... there was a possibility... a possibility that you could return."

Tidus looked startled, "Really? How?!"

Here, Nysa frowned and shook her head. "I don't actually know. I never got the perfect ending. And when I tried to play the game a second time, I was unable, as it kept freezing at the opening scene." She quickly continued when he gave her a hopeless look. "What I'm saying, is that it _is_ possible. I will do everything in my power to make sure it happens. Yuna will too. She loves you, you know."

"I--- I love her too." Tidus whispered.

Nysa was about to reply when she glanced past Tidus and saw Tara watching from the distance. "Look, I have to go, but we'll talk again. We still have two days till we go after Sin."

"Yeah. Alright." Tidus nodded his consent. "Talk to you later... Uhh, can you tell the others that I'll be back in awhile? I need to clear my head."

"Sure." Nysa walked past him but stopped briefly to place her hand on his shoulder reassuringly. "Tidus... before I go, I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry. When I first saw you, my first impression was that you were a brainless jock. I was wrong; very wrong. I'm sorry I ever thought that about you."

Tidus just laughed, "I _am _a brainless jock! And don't you tell anyone differently; I've got a reputation to protect you know!"

Nysa laughed along with him, "I'll tell the others that you'll be back in a couple hours, okay?" She handed him her charm bangle with a small smile and walked away.

Tara met her half way. "Is there really no way to convince you to come home with us?"

Nysa smiled lightly, "Not in a million years! You think I'm going to give up my superpowers for _high school_?"

Tara winced and smacked Nysa playfully, "Thanks for reminding me. We'll have to repeat the year because of this, and it's Grad year to boot!" Tara sighed theoretically, "I was like four scant months from graduating." Her playfulness vanished as if it had never been there, and she turned serious eyes on her best friend. "I'm going to miss you Nysa. So much."

Nysa stepped closer and pulled her blond counterpart closer in a tight hug. "I'll miss you too Tara..." she whispered into the other girls now shorter hair. "Forever and Ever and Always."

"Forever and Ever and Always." Tara repeated. It was like a secret promise between the two of them.

"Tara? When you go back to Earth in two days... Can you give this to my parents?" Nysa handed the blond the small video sphere that she and Rebecca had recorded a couple days earlier and the com-sphere prototype that Shinra had made her.

Tara carefully pocketed the sphere. "I'll make sure they get it." she promised.

"Hey?" Akail called from the doorway of the coffee shop, "You guys ready? We have to finish our preparations."

Nysa pulled away from Tara and gave her a half smile. "Is there any way I can convince you not to go back?"

Tara grinned, "Not a chance. I miss my Livejournal too much to stay here." She glanced back towards Rebecca's shop where Akail was waiting impatiently. "We better get back before he uses his power over wind to _make_ us come back."

Nysa gave a short laugh and hooked her arm with Tara's. "Let's go then,"

---

"Is everyone in position?" Nysa asked for what seemed to be the hundredth time. "We only get one chance at this."

"We're ready." Akail replied exasperatedly.

"Okay." Nysa replied. She stepped forward. "It's time." She closed her eyes and concentrated on Summoning Shiva. Until now, she hadn't even known she still could.

**"Ieyui"**

Skye and Batalax stepped forward next. Simultaneously, they summoned Ifrit and Ixion.

**"Nobomeno"**

Xander stepped forward next. Yojimbo and his dog appeared seconds later.

**"Renmiri"**

Tara smiled, slightly nervous, she had never summoned Anima before. She closed her eyes and located the previously hidden presence in her mind. Wordlessly, she summoned the deadly Aeon.

**"Yojuyogo"**

Akail stepped forward next, and with a dramatic wave of his hand, summoned Valefor.

**"Hasatekanae"**

Next, Nysa summoned Bahamut, while Batalax summoned the Magus sisters.

**"Kutamae"**

The eight Aeons nodded once at each other and poured their power into the Stargate look-a-like.

"The gift of the Fayth beckoned brightly in the distance. The group of miss matched heroes couldn't help but look at the glowing mass in awe, knowing in their very souls, that this portal lead to one place and one place only… _Home_.

The group of six walked towards the growing light, the energy in the air making them all look mythical, even godlike. They stopped just before the portal opening, wanting to say goodbye to the friends they had made over the last year and the friends they were leaving behind, knowing that this would be their last chance.

The six turned to see those that were there to see them off, tears showing in more than one pair of eyes; of course the males of the group would make up some excuse, saying that their eyes were watering from the brightness of the portal… But they all knew it wasn't true. The otherworldly heroes had accomplished a lot in such a short time; they had made many memories…Not all of them good.

Each heroes story was different- as each hero was unique. Some found love, some found a purpose, there was a lot of pain and hardships they were forced to overcome, but one thing they all found…was each-other.

This is their story— _Our_ story."

Batalax gave Nysa a playful push. "Are you quite done?"

Nysa gave a sheepish smile and put the Video Sphere in her pocket. "Yeah. I'm done."

They turned to view the six that were leaving. To the left, Skye and Souron were smiling, hand in hand. They both looked sad to go, but relieved to finally be going back to their real lives. Beside them, Tara had tears running down her face as she looked back at them, but she still managed to give them a small smile through her tears. Kayden stood to her right, a small smile on his face, he had said his goodbyes earlier. Finally, Xander just stood there smiling. He would miss Batalax and Nysa, but he was happy to finally be going home.

"Go." Nysa whispered softly. "We'll handle the clean up."

"No. We want to see the end." Akail argued, not knowing the mistake he was making.

Batalax nodded once and with her eyes closed in concentration, she started to dance the sending. Her torch was a a colorful blur as she twirled it around with precise movements. Each movement seemed to seemlessly move into the next, and the air around her started to shimmer with power. The Fayth started to glow as their bodies turned to pireflies. Her eyes closed, Batalax never noticed until it was too late for her to stop; Akail turned to pireflies along with them.

"No." Nysa whispered, her eyes widened in shock. She turned and glared at Bahamut, he was barely visible. Already too far gone. She looked towards her friends, everyone was too shocked to move. She looked past them at the portal, it was starting to close. "Go! Before it's to late! I'll get Akail back, just go!" To her right, Batalax continued to dance the sending, unaware of the turmoil it was causing. The Hymn of the Fayth could be heard slowly fading into the background as the Spirans all over the world sang.

Tara nodded once and with one last regretful look, ran through the portal with the other four following close behind. The portal closed behind them as if it had never been there in the first place.

Batalax finished the sending at that moment and opened her eyes. "What'd I miss?" She asked, when she noticed the thief's dismayed look. She looked at the closed portal, "They gone already?"

"Yeah." Nysa smiled softly and watched the last of the pireflies disappear. She had secretly suspected that Akail was an unsent, but she had had no proof of it until now. Sure, she had used the save points, but she personally had believed that they were a little too good to be true, not to mention, if they really worked, no one in Spira would be dead, they would always just wake up at the last save spot they had used. "Let's go B, the airship is waiting for us. We've got to get to the battle. I'll fill you in later."

Batalax nodded once and allowed herself to be pulled through Guadosalam. Both teens stopped once and looked back at the stargate. "Goodbye guys..."

----

The airship picked them up just outside of Guadosalam, they were slightly out of breath from running through the entire town, "Cid, take us to Sin!" Nysa called as they ran to the bridge of the ship.

"Yee Haw!" Cid exclaimed gleefully. He spoke rapidly to Brother in Al Bhed, and the two girls could feel the slight lurch of the airship as it took off into the air once more.

Nysa sat down just outside the bridge with her eyes closed. She couldn't believe how fast everything was happening. Her friends, some of which she had known since she was just a little kid, had just left, and she would most likely never see them again, not to mention, another of her friends was actually dead; although she was going to do everything in her power to bring him back.

"You ready?" Batalax asked quietly as she moved into the room and sat across from the thief. "This is the end... we really made it."

"I'm ready." Nysa replied, her eyes snapped open and she grinned. "Yu Yevon is going down."

"We're directly over Sin." Cid called out. He stalked into the room they were sitting in. "You galls be careful a'right?" Cid exclaimed.

Nysa nodded curtly before heading out to the deck of the ship. Batalax gave Cid a half smile before running after the thief. She turned back just before they went out of sight, "Wish us luck!" Cid gave them a half salute and turned back to the bridge.

"Let's do this." Batalax grinned and jumped off of the ship onto Sin's back.

Nysa shrugged and jumped right after. They ran through the winding maze that was Yu Yevon's armor until they could hear the sound of fighting. "They're up ahead."

Batalax nodded and readied her Tikki Torch. "What are we waiting for?"

"Let's go." Nysa ran further into the area and noticed that it suddenly looked like they were standing on a bridge overlooking dream Zanarkand. She had forgotten what this area of Sin's armor had looked like.

"Nysa! B!" Rikku called out as she spotted them. The blond had a cut above her left eye and was holding her arm strangely as if it was dislocated, but other than that she seemed to be doing alright.

Nysa smiled at her faintly before turning her eyes to the rest of the group. Yuna was standing away from the fight, because without her Aeons, she wouldn't be able to do much damage to Yu Yevon. She looked mostly unharmed, but there was a vacant look in her eyes that was almost physically painful to see on such a sweet girls face. She noticed the blond Blitzers absence immediately, and suddenly the look on Yuna's face made much more sense.

Auron was on the front lines, his scared face was filled with resolve. He looked mostly unharmed, but that was not surprising, as you can't hurt what is already dead. Nysa glanced at Lulu next, the mage looked exhausted but was still continuously casting spells. She was favoring her right leg, but other than that seemed to be mostly unharmed.

Wakka on the other hand, didn't seem to be faring well. He was sitting on the ground with a dazed expression on his face, he had a head wound that was bleeding, but the dazed expression made Nysa belive he had a concussion. The Blitzballer's attack ball was no where in sight.

And finally, Kimahri was staying away from the fight guarding Yuna. Nysa took all this in within seconds and quickly ran closer to join the fight. "Yuna, take this." she handed the ex-summoner the gun she had stolen from Sterge the month before.

Yuna looked at the gun in shock before nodding. "Okay." She expertly took it apart and put it back together again, showing Nysa that she had been paying a lot more attention to Tara than she had thought.

Batalax had immediately joined the battle. She quickly replaced Lulu, giving the other mage a break to catch her breath and down a couple ethers.

Nysa nodded at Auron once and stepped up beside him with her daggers out. "And now... We rise to meet the end." she murmured to herself.

Like in the game, Yu Yevon was not actually that difficult to beat. It was Yuna who got the finishing blow in. It seemed fitting somehow, seeing as all she had given up in her short life. Tidus's last words were still ringing in her ears as she lowered her borrowed weapon.

_Tidus held his dad as the man started to turn to pireflies. Yuna noticed that Tidus was starting to shimmer too. "No..." she whispered._

"_Yuna... I have to go."_

_She shook her head in denial, this couldn't be happening! _

"_I'm sorry I couldn't show you Zanarkand."_

"_Wha--?" Wakka took a step closer._

_Tidus stood from where he had held his dad as the man faded. He looked at them all sadly, but could feel in his very soul that his time was almost up. "Goodbye." He started to walk past them to the ledge of the bridge they were standing on._

_Yuna was almost too stunned to move, it was if everything she was hearing was a great distance away. She could faintly hear Rikku call out that they were going to see him again. Finally, she snapped out of her shock and ran at him, her goal was to grab on to him so he wouldn't be able to go; instead, she passed right through him and fell to the ground._

"_Yuna!" Kimahri cried out, his voice gruff._

_Tidus looked down at his hands as he watched the pireflies start to appear around him, he could feel himself crying softly. He had known this was going to happen, he had even told the group that this would be the last battle he fought with the... but secretly, he had hoped that something would go wrong with the sending, and that he wouldn't be sent away._

_Yuna felt like she couldn't breath, for a few seconds it was if she had died with him, until finally the gentle resolve that had become such a huge part of her personality, kicked in and she stood. Her back to him, she whispered words that were for him only. "I love you."_

_Tidus looked at her back, his face astonished. Finally he stepped forward and carefully embraced her, he knew it was likely she couldn't feel much more than a phantom touch, but it was all he could offer at the moment. With a resolve he never knew he had, he stepped through her and with a running leap, he jumped off the bridge. And then he was gone._

Nysa could see that Yuna was preoccupied, so she stepped forward and preformed the sending. Her movements were not as graceful as Batalax's, but she had never been any good at dancing, so it was no surprise. With a flash of light, Sin exploded outward into millions of pireflies. Nysa was slightly startled to see that they were suddenly standing on the deck of Cid's airship. She had always wondered how they had went to being in Sin one moment to standing on the ship the next. Auron started to disappear as well.

Nysa faltered slightly in her dance, "Keep going." Auron demanded, a peaceful expression was on his face for the first time she had ever seen. With everything going on she had forgotten that he too was an Unsent.

Yuna blinked and smiled slightly at the sight of the millions of Pireflies. "We have done it."

---

"Everyone..." Yuna faltered slightly when she realized just how many people were watching.

Nysa stepped forward so she was standing next to the gentle ex-summoner. She nodded at the taller girl reassuringly. This had been her favorite speech of the game, but somehow, it was so much more heartbreaking to actually be here, listening to it with her own ears.

"Everyone has lost something precious. Everyone here, has lost homes, dreams, and friends." Yuna continued, "Everybody. Now, Sin is finally dead." The crowd went wild, but Yuna continued. "Now, Spira is ours again."

Batalax stepped forward, "Working together, now we can make new homes for ourselves." Her eyes scanned the audience until she caught sight of Luzzu. "And new dreams."

Yuna smiled and continued where Batalax had left off. "I know... the journey will be hard, but we have lots of time. Together, we will rebuild Spira. The road is ahead of us, so lets start out today." Yuna turned around and smiled at her guardians. She nodded at Nysa, who blinked in confusion. Yuna discreetly gestured for her to take the podium and speak.

Nysa nodded and took Yuna's place, she knew exactly what to say. "Just... one more thing." She said, causing the crowd to slowly stop cheering so they could hear her. She looked over the crowd slowly. "The people and the friends that we've lost... and the dreams that have faded..." She smiled slightly, although it was pained. She closed her eyes and remembered.

"_This is it then? This is goodbye?" Akail whispered. "For what it's worth, you guys are the best friends I've ever had, and I'll miss you all."_

_Nysa stepped forward and hugged him, Batalax was quick to follow. "We'll miss you too Akail." both girls whispered._

_Nysa stepped up to Xander next, "Goodbye Xander. It's been nice seeing you again, don't forget us okay?" After they had broken up two years previous they had stopped being as close of friends as they once were, but this journey had changed that. "I'll miss you." She gave him a tight, brief hug. _

_She smiled to herself as Batalax threw herself into Xanders arms, hugging him with all her strength, "You ever forget me, and to hell with dimensional portals; I will track you down and beat you to death with Mr. Tikki!"_

_Batalax and Tara hugged next. "You be safe Ophelia." Tara whispered. "Take care of Nysa for me. Okay?"_

"_I will. I promise. You take care of yourself now, okay?" Batalax released Tara and moved to Kayden. "I don't know you that well, but you saved us a bunch of times. So goodbye," She stepped forward and gave him a hug which he reciprocated. "_

_Keep my cousins in line for me?"_

_Batalax nodded cheerfully. "I just have to mention Mr. Tikki, and Ny will do anything I say."_

_Nysa gave the mage a mock offended look, "I resent that." She turned her eyes back to Skye and Souron. "I'll miss you guys." She hugged Skye tightly, and after a moments hesitation, hugged Souron as well. "You two take care of each other, okay?"_

"_We will." Skye promised. She gripped Sourons hand tighter. "Be safe you guys."_

_As Batalax moved to say her goodbyes to Souron and Skye, Nysa moved closer to Kayden. "Remember what I told you earlier. You have to take care of them for me and Becca." She hugged him tightly and stepped away. Her and Kayden had said their goodbyes back at Rebecca's coffee shop. _

_Nysa paused and turned and met Tara's eyes. They had said their goodbyes the night before, knowing that if they left it for today, they wouldn't be able to let go. "I love you Tara. You're my best friend."_

_Tara nodded, her eyes sad, but understanding. "You too." she replied. She took a few steps forward and latched onto Nysa. "Forever and Ever and Always, okay?"_

_Nysa felt her vision blur with tears. "Forever and Ever and Always." She repeated back, the words felt like a prayer to her. She pulled away and wiped her eyes. "C'mon, we need to get started, the others are probably already fighting Jecht."_

Nysa's eyes snapped open and she looked over the crowd for the last time. "Never forget them."

Batalax stepped forward and grabbed Nysa's hand with her right and Yuna's hand with her left. "On three. To the eternal calm." she whispered so only the two of them would hear her. "Three. Two. One." she counted down.

The three High Summoners shouted, "To The Eternal Calm!"

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THE END.

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A/N: Wow. Finally done! Yay! This is the first long story I've ever finished. Okay, so it took me like two years, but still! Finished! I have idea's for a sequel staring Nysa, Batalax and a reluctant Luzzu on an epic quest to bring Akail back from the dead. Should I go through with it?

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-The Sequel is UP!


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